Caixabank Research | Employment is well above pre-pandemic levels. Specifically, in Q1 2024 it is already more than 8% above Q1 2019 records (in National Accounts terms) and double cumulative GDP growth of 3.7%. In contrast, actual hours worked have grown at a slower pace since then, just 1.3%. This has translated into a decline in hours worked per worker (PTETC) of 6.3%. Thus, while productivity per worker has fallen by 4.0%, productivity per hour worked has grown by 2.5%.
What is the reason for the decline in the number of hours worked per employee? One of the causes was the greater volume of hours during which the employed were absent from their jobs for various reasons.
According to data from the EPA (Active Population Survey), in Q1 2024, 9.8% of the employed (almost 2.1 million) did not work during the reference week, 885,000 due to vacations, 113,000 due to parental leave and, above all, 971,000 due to illness, accident or temporary disability.
According to Social Security data, the percentage of hours not worked for various reasons other than vacations amounted to 6.3% of the hours contributed in 4Q 2023, compared to 4.8% recorded in 4Q 2019. Of the hours not worked, 86.2% were due to IT leave, 12.8% due to other benefits (childbirth and childcare or risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding) and 1.0% due to being affected by Temporary Redundancy Proceedings. The average number of hours not worked per contributor to the General Regime stood at 27.5 in the quarter, seven hours more than in the same period of 2019.
The increase in absenteeism is observed in practically all Eurozone countries, suggesting that what has happened in recent years has had a persistent and widespread impact. If we compare the Spanish absenteeism ratio with those of the Eurozone countries, Spain is at the top of the ranking, albeit below economies such as Germany and France. However, Spain stands out for its strong growth in absenteeism since the pandemic. In fact, we are the second country where it has grown the most compared to the same quarter of 2019, specifically four points, only behind Malta. If we consider exclusively absenteeism owing to temporary disability, the increase compared to Q1 2019 has also been intense, rising from 2.7% to 4.6%.
If we focus on absenteeism derived from temporary disability, the figures speak for themselves: in 2023 there were more than 8.1 million sick leaves due to common contingencies, with a cost to Social Security that exceeded €13,000 million in economic benefits, figures that exceed those of 2019 by 36% and 55%, respectively.
The increase in absenteeism has come from the increase in the number of cases and not from the average duration of sick leave, which is even below pre-pandemic levels.
