LETTER FROM BERLIN
Germany is the sick man of Europe – quite literally. According to official statistics, Germans are getting sicker and sicker, taking longer and longer time off work when they are ill: four days more sick leave on average last year than in 2021, with 15.1 days in 2023, compared with 11.1 two years earlier, according to the Federal Statistical Office (which only counts sick leave of more than three days). And the trend is accelerating, since a record is expected this year, with the federation of health insurance companies, the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK), having warned that a new peak had been reached as early as August, even before the onset of winter.
In a country in recession, the subject is by no means anecdotal. The publication of these figures had a major impact in Germany, generating an unusual wave of introspection. "Have we all become slackers?" ran the headline in the Tagesspiegel a few days ago. "Are we lazy or simply finished?" the tabloid Bild even asked, while Handelsblatt spoke of "the sick Republic." Commentators were quick to point out that the country has become Europe's sick leave champion. However, international comparisons, which are complex if not impossible due to differences in regulations, often lead to divergent conclusions. Employee surveys carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are not so affirmative, although the organization's experts admit to observing a recent increase. By way of illustration (the data are not directly comparable), a report by the French Inspectorate of finances, published in July, stated that private-sector employees in France were absent for an average of 11.7 days for health reasons in 2022, and public-sector employees for an average of 14.5 days.
On the other side of the Rhine, reactions to these statistics speak almost louder than the figures themselves: Is Germany, home of the Protestant work ethic, undergoing a cultural shift? Economists see it as restricting a return to growth, with some even arguing that the loss of earnings due to absenteeism would be enough to make up the half-point of GDP needed to pull Germany out of recession. "High absenteeism is an additional risk to companies' chances of overcoming weak growth," said Andreas Storm, head of one of Germany's leading health insurance companies (DAK), in the October 28 edition of Bild. For their part, the right and the liberals see this as a symptom of an overly generous welfare state, the cost of which is hampering Germany's recovery.
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