Germans call in sick more than 20 days per year on average, much more than workers in other EU countries.
Without the increase in sick days, the German economy could have grown by around 0.5% in 2023, instead of retracting by 0.3%, a study by pharma industry association vfa estimated last year.
I appreciate this deeper analysis. As a physician, concerned about public health, it would be useful to know with greater specificity what these higher numbers are due to, be it actual days of milder infectious disease which prevent / slow spread of disease, ‘mental health’ days (mental health care is part of health care), changes / misalignment with countries data collection, etc. With COVID, and other potential sources of post viral syndromes, increasing overall morbidity, such research could be useful in guiding public health policy towards better outcomes.