Sick leave Mental illness continues to cause many days off

Workers rarely get sick - Many days off due to mental illness
The number of days lost due to mental illness reached a new record level last year. Also in the first half of 2017, mental suffering caused numerous job losses. But overall, employees reported sick less frequently during this period.

Mental illnesses cause many days off
German employees are on average ill about 15 days per year. Mental suffering is a common reason why employees can not go to work. For example, the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) reported a few months ago that six of the twelve top diagnoses for sick leave are six mental illnesses. A recent report by DAK Health has also shown that such diseases cause many days off.

According to a recent DAK health report, workers are less likely to get sick. But mental illnesses cause many days off. (Image: Björn Wylezich / fotolia.com)

Employees reported sick less frequently
According to a statement from the health insurance company, employees in Germany reported sick less frequently in the first half of 2017 than in the previous year.

The sick leave amounted to 4.3 per cent, so the result of a current analysis of the DAK health. This represents a slight decrease of 0.1 percentage points compared to the first half of 2016.

63.5 percent of the working population have not yet been on sick leave, more than one in three (36.5 percent) at least once.

The largest share of sick leave is due to musculoskeletal disorders, colds and mental illnesses. Every second missing day was accounted for by one of these three types of illness (55 percent).

Back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders
It has been reported that back problems and other musculoskeletal disorders are the number one issue of absenteeism statistics. Every fifth day of absence was justified (21 percent).

In men, back pain and Co. make up a larger proportion of sick leave than women (23.5 vs. 18.5 percent).

This is followed by diseases of the respiratory system with an 18 percent share of the total sickness. Mental illness led to almost as many days lost: their share of sick leave was 15.6 percent (1st half of 2015: 15.9 percent).

Women were more likely to be on sick leave than men with such a diagnosis. The affected people were particularly long: 34.7 days on average.

The national comparison shows that working people in the eastern federal states were sick more frequently and with a sick leave rate of 5.5 percent than in West Germany (4.2 percent).

While in the East, 43 percent of employees were sick at least once before the middle of the year, in the West only 35.7 percent were sick. (Ad)