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Work Absence Rates
2006
Highlights
- Estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that both the incidence
and the number of days lost for personal reasons (illness or disability, and
personal or family responsibilities) have shown a rising trend since 1997.
Several factors have contributed: notably, an aging workforce; the growing
share of women in the workforce, especially mothers with young children; high
worker stress; and more generous sick- and family-related leave benefits.
- In an average week in 1997, excluding women on maternity leave,
about 5.5% (484,000) of all full-time employees holding one job were
absent from work for all or part of the week for personal reasons. By 2006,
the figure had risen to 8.2% (896,000). Total work time missed also rose
steadily, from 3.0% of the scheduled week in 1997 to 3.9%
in 2006. Extrapolated over the full year, work time lost for personal
reasons increased from the equivalent of 7.4 days per worker in 1997 to 9.7 days
in 2006.
- Full-time employees in the public sector (more likely unionized or female)
lost more work time in 2006 for personal reasons (about 13 days
on average) than their private-sector counterparts (8.8 days).
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