Sickness absence lowest among hotel and restaurant workers

The sickness absence rate among employees in the Netherlands was 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2011. It was lowest among workers in the hotel and restaurant sector: 2.5 percent.

Stable absence rate

Sickness absence has more or less stabilised in the Netherlands in recent years. In the second quarter of 2011 the rate was 4.1 percent. Twelve months previously it was 4.0 percent. This is the equivalent of 1 in every 25 employees being off work because of illness.

Highest rates in public administration, education and manufacturing

The highest rates of sickness absence are in public administration, education and manufacturing. Sickness absence was 5.1 percent in these sectors. In the health care sector, too, absence was relatively high, at 5.0 percent.

Sickness absence among employees by sector, second quarter 2011

Increase in sickness absence

Although sickness absence was lowest in the hotel and restaurant sector in the second quarter of 2011, it is substantially higher than last year, when it was 2.1 percent. In public administration and manufacturing absence has also risen strongly.

Sickness absence among employees by sector, second quarter 2011 vs. second quarter 2010

One in twenty workers off sick in large companies

Large companies with one hundred or more employees had an average sickness absence rate of 4.8 percent in the second quarter of 2011. Small and medium-sized companies had rates of 1.9 and 3.1 percent respectively.

Absence costs 2.6 billion euro in second quarter

The costs of sickness absence are considerable. In the second quarter of 2011, employers paid 2.6 billion euro in wages for employees who were off sick. In the same period last year they paid 2.5 billion euro.

John Kartopawiro