No summer flu wave in Germany – and yet sickness rates have increased. This was the result of an evaluation by the health insurance company DAK. Mental illnesses in particular increased significantly afterwards.
The DAK recorded an unusually high number of sick notes for the summer months from July to September, as the health insurance company announced today. In contrast to some previous years, there was no increase in flu cases.
Missed over 20 days a year for the first time?
According to the evaluation, each employee missed an average of 4.6 days in the summer. In the previous year it was only 4.3 days on average. This could result in a peak number of sick notes this year, as the cold season in autumn and winter is still ahead. “Based on our analysis, we assume that in 2023 we will have a total of well over 20 days of absence per employee per year for the first time in many years,” said DAK CEO Andreas Storm.
The number of sick days had already increased significantly last year: for 2022, the DAK registered an average of almost 20 days of absence among employees, an increase of around five days compared to 2021.
According to the health insurance company, the higher number of sick notes is primarily due to two findings by the doctors: On the one hand, these were also mental illnesses in the summer. On the other hand, many employees reported illnesses caused by musculoskeletal problems (back). 101 days of absence per 100 employees were due to these musculoskeletal illnesses; for mental illnesses there were 87 days of absence per 100 employees. According to experts, many sick notes due to back problems are also linked to psychological stress.
Psychological stress increased
“The aftereffects of the pandemic, the uncertainty in Germany due to the many crises in the world: all of this is increasingly putting a strain on people’s psyches,” said DAK CEO Storm. According to the information, data from almost 2.4 million employees insured with DAK were evaluated for the analysis.
The health insurance company AOK came to similar conclusions a few weeks ago. The 2023 absence report, which records sickness notifications from the past year, recorded 216.6 sickness notification cases per 100 employed insured people. From 2012 to 2021 there was an average of 159.7 cases. A multi-year high was documented here. Compared to 2012, days of absence due to mental illnesses were 48 percent higher in 2022.
Billion dollar loss for the economy
Rising disease rates are costing the economy billions. According to a study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), the high level of sickness last year cost the economy up to 42 billion euros. The gross domestic product (GDP) could have increased by between 2.5 and 2.9 percent in 2022 instead of 1.8 percent. In the current year, a lower illness rate could have saved the German economy from contraction. The ifo Institute, for example, expects gross domestic product to shrink by 0.4 percent in 2023.