Sickness absence in the healthcare sector rose to 7.8 percent last quarter. In the same quarter last year, absenteeism was still 6.97 percent. This is apparent from figures from absenteeism data company Vernet, a subsidiary of pension provider PGGM.
This concerns employees in hospitals, institutions for mental health care, care for the disabled and care, nursing and home care. The increase is due, among other things, to the emergence of the omikron variant of the coronavirus and the subsequent flu wave.
In total, about 960,000 people work in these sectors. This means that in April, May and June an average of about 75,000 employees were out of work every day. Employees who were quarantined at home or waiting for a result of a corona test are not included in these figures.
In the first three months of this year, absenteeism due to illness was even higher at 9.83 percent.