The wave of illness is ebbing: 275,000 people are still on sick leave!

The wave of illness is ebbing: 275,000 people are still on sick leave!

Austria remains affected by a massive wave of illness! According to the latest figures from the Austrian Health Insurance Fund, 275,666 people are currently still on sick leave. This is a comparable value to the same time last year, when 275,764 people were on sick leave. Despite a decrease of around 16,000 cases compared to the previous week, the situation remains alarming. During this time, sickness rates rose faster than the flu epidemic, and the majority of those affected are struggling with a flu-like infection oe24.at reported.

Industry comparison in Germany

Cases of illness in Germany show a similar, albeit slightly declining, trend. An analysis by the IGES Institute shows that sick leave fell by 0.1 percentage points to 5.4 percent in 2024. This means that around 54 out of 1,000 employees are on sick leave every day. French and Italian health closures reduce comparability between countries due to fewer recorded days of absence, which makes the situation in Germany particularly striking. Thanks to electronic reporting procedures (eAU), Germany has one of the highest levels of officially reported sick days, as shown in the OECD data iges.com. Here the value for 2022 is 24.9 days, which is a high value in a European comparison.

The main cause of sickness reports in Germany are respiratory and musculoskeletal problems, the number of days missed has decreased significantly, while mental illnesses have increased by 5.7 percent. These developments shed light on the challenges of the healthcare system in both countries and reinforce the need to pay attention to proper hygiene measures and a healthy lifestyle to strengthen the immune system.