The absenteeism rate reached 6.9% in the second quarter of the year, or 0.2 points more than the same period in 2023, according to Adecco. Taking these figures into account, hours not worked due to worker absence This equates to more than 1.2 million employees in Spain having not worked during the months of April and June.. According to the analysis, absenteeism due to temporary incapacity is the most significant, its rate increasing by 0.3 points in one year to reach 5.5%. The data emerges in the middle of the debate on flexible sick leave proposed by the Minister of Social Security. Last week, Elma Saiz raised the possibility of studying a formula to gradually integrate disabled employees, with the aim of reducing the high expenses generated by the payment of these benefits. The minister’s comments ended up generating a new divide, both within the coalition government and in the investiture bloc. The second vice-president, Yolanda Díaz, opposes this measure, as do other groups, such as Bildu or Podemos. “Rights are respected, they are not relaxed,” Sumar’s spokesperson in Congress, Íñigo Errejón, insisted last Friday. On the contrary, the employers accepted the proposal. “We completely agree with Saiz’s approach and for it to be incorporated into labor legislation,” said Foment del Treball president Josep Sánchez Llibre.
Industry is the sector where absenteeism has increased the most. It has done so by increasing 0.4 points since the second quarter of 2023, and already represents a rate of 7.5%. Behind Services, 7% of workers dedicated to this activity stopped – at some point – attending their work between April and June. In Construction, they did so to the tune of 5.5%. Illnesses due to disability lead to the absence of 5.6% of workers in Industry and Services; 4.5% in Construction. “In addition to working hours lost due to vacation and ERTE, there are many other reasons that cause occasional losses. The most important of these reasons in quantitative terms is temporary disability,” explains the report, which recalls that “It is an error to equate absenteeism with unjustified absences.”
By the autonomous communities, The Basque Country continues to have the highest rate of absenteeismby 7.6% despite a drop of 0.8 points compared to a year ago. What happened in La Rioja is also remarkable. It is one of only two regions where absenteeism increased this quarter, with 7.5%, or 0.4 points more than between April and June of last year. The same figure of increase that suffered in the Canary Islands, where the rate rose to 7.3%. Regarding absenteeism due to temporary incapacity, the autonomous communities most affected are once again La Rioja, the Basque Country and Cantabria, while Extremadura is the least affected with 3.1%, 0.5 points less than 12 months ago.
The Adecco report also analyzes workplace accident figures. Its impact is in 216 accidents per 100,000 workers in working hours, or 8% more than in the previous quarter, but one point less than a year ago. Concerning the seriousness of accidents occurring during working hours, 99.2% are minor. For their part, fatal accidents occurring during working hours represent only 0.1%. The accident rate is higher at the start of a career, with a higher frequency among employees aged 16 to 24, both for men and women.
