Archive:Absences from work - quarterly statistics
Data extracted in April 2021
No further updates planned.
Highlights
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Absences from work can be classified into two groups: on one side, the planned, desired absences (e.g. annual holidays) and on the other side, the unplanned, undesired absences (e.g. illnesses, lay-offs). While the first type of absences could be easily “absorbed” by the companies as their effect could be planned and also mitigated, for example, by rescheduling the work priorities or recruiting temporary staff, the second type could lead to disruption of the production cycles and lead to material losses to both employers and employees.
It is worth noting that sometimes this distinction is not so easy to make. Usually, annual leave is guaranteed by legislation, which may lead some employers to encourage their employees to take holidays when the enterprise is facing economic difficulties. This means that holidays sometimes may mask actual lay-offs.
The beginning of 2020 was marked by an outbreak of the worldwide pandemic COVID-19, leading almost all governments around the globe to take restrictive measures, of which the social distancing had a pivotal role. To prevent the spread of the virus and to ensure distancing of people, many businesses were temporarily shut down and many employees confined to their homes. Whereas worker protection laws may imply that employment, especially employees, will not be affected, at least in the beginning of the pandemic, one may expect over time a sharp rise of absences from work which falls under the aforementioned second category of undesired, unplanned absences.
This article aims to depict the absences from work in the European Union (EU) as a whole, for all EU Member States individually (except Germany for which data is not yet available), as well as for three EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and four candidate countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). Please note that the presented data is seasonally adjusted.
The population of interest in this article is employed persons (age group 20-64) who are temporarily absent from work (incl. business). The notion of temporary absence from work refers to situations in which a period of work is interrupted by a period of absence.
The article is part of the online publication Labour market in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic - quarterly statistics along with the articles Labour market slack - unmet need for employment and Hours of work.
Full article
After a sharp rise in the first two quarters of 2020, absences from work went down in the third quarter, then, again took an upward turn in the final quarter of the year
In 2020, absences from work recorded unprecedented levels since the beginning of the time series in 2006 (see Figure 1). In the last quarter of 2019 (Q4 2019), 18.1 million people were absent from their jobs in the EU. This number reached 23.5 million at the beginning of 2020, i.e. during the first quarter of the year (Q1 2020). In the second quarter of 2020 (Q2 2020), the number of people absent from work saw an even more striking increase, it reached 35.3 million.
Then, during the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020), the COVID-19 confinement measures were eased in many countries. The number of people absent from their jobs also reflected this. After its sharp increase during the first two quarters of 2020, absences from work went down in the third quarter of the year and accounted for 17.9 million people, i.e. a number closer to the pre-pandemic EU in Q4 2019. However, in the last quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020), the pandemic situation exacerbated and the number of absences from work went up again to reach 22.3 million people. For reference, over the last fourteen years, until the end of 2019, the total number of absences from work varied from 14.4 to 18.9 million.
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Primarily the number of temporary lay-offs determined the dynamic of the absences from work in the EU during 2020 (see Figure 2). The levels of temporary lay-offs had been relatively stable in the period before Q1 2020, with the exception of the first two quarters of 2009, when they rose consequently by 0.3 and 0.2 million. Their number also never exceeded 0.5 million after the third quarter of 2014. However, in Q1 2020, 3.0 million people were absent from work because of temporary lay-off, an increase of 2.7 million in comparison with the previous quarter. In the following quarter (Q2 2020), this number increased even more sharply, by nearly five times, and reached 13.8 million. In Q3 2020, the number of temporary lay-offs steeply went down to 2.0 million. Nevertheless, this was still substantially more than the last quarter of 2019 when people absent from their jobs due to this reason had been 0.3 million. In Q4 2020, the number of temporary lay-offs rebounded to a level similar to the beginning of the year (Q1 2020) and reached 3.1 million.
“Other” reasons corresponded to the second category with the largest contribution to the dynamic of the total number of absences from work in 2020. The number of people who had “other” reasons for not being at work went from 3.3 million in the last quarter of 2019 to 5.2 and 8.7 million for Q1 and Q2 of 2020 respectively. Then, in Q3 2020, the number of people in this group dropped to 4.1 million, however in the next quarter (Q4 2020) it went up again, this time to 4.6 million. The observation of the long-term evolution of this category does not reveal major fluctuations in its number; furthermore, before 2020 it ranged between 2.7 and 3.3 million.
“Holidays” had been traditionally the most predominant reason for absence from work of the employed population; nevertheless, in 2020 their position was rivalled by the aforementioned two reasons for absence. After an increase from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020 from 10.5 to 11.5 million, the number of people absent from work due to holidays dropped to 8.5 million in Q2 2020 and then to 7.9 million in Q3 2020, which was their lowest level for the whole time series since 2006. Hereafter, the number of absences due to holidays went up to 10.3 million in Q4 2020, i.e. a similar level to its values from a year ago (from Q4 2019).
By contrast, the last category of absence, illustrated in Figure 2, namely “Own illness or disability” did not fluctuate so aggressively during 2020. People in this group were 3.9 million during Q1 and Q3 2020, and 4.3 and 4.4 million in Q2 and Q4 2020 respectively. For reference, in Q4 2019 their number was 4.0 million. It is worth mentioning, that looking at the evolution of the number of employed people absent from work due to their own illness or disability, one could find a slow but steady increase of their levels since the first quarter of 2006 onwards: from values slightly below 3 million at the beginning of the time series to values firmly exceeding 4 million towards the end of the observed period, i.e. the final quarter of 2020.
The structure of absences from work by reason in the EU during the last five quarters (Q4 2019 - Q4 2020), presented in Figure 3, shows that holidays were the most predominant reason for absence in Q4 2019, representing 57.8 % of all absences during this quarter. Between Q4 2019 and Q2 2020, the situation changed and holidays were replaced by temporary lay-off as the most widespread reason for absence. Temporary lay-offs amounted to 38.9 % of all absences from work in Q2 2020. In the following two quarters, holidays regained their prevalent position among absences, with respectively 44.0 % and 45.9 % of all absences in Q3 and Q4 2020. Nevertheless, this was still less than their level at the end of 2019 (Q4 2019). On the other hand, temporary lay-offs represented 11.2 % of all absences in Q3 2020 and 14.1 % in Q4 2020, which was lower than the value in Q2 2020, but still much higher than the value of 1.6 % in Q4 2019. It is also worth noting that, the share of absences for own illness or disability in Q3 2020 (21.9 %), after two consecutive quarters of reduction (16.4 % in Q1 2020 and 12.3 % in Q2 2020), closely returned to its level of Q4 2019 (22.3 %), then in Q4 2020, it slightly diminished its size again, this time to 19.6 %.
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Absences: 9.5 % of employment in Q4 2019 and 11.8 % of employment a year later in Q4 2020
The next figure of the article (Figure 4) aims at the comparison of the overall absences from work as a percentage of employment in the period from the last quarter of 2019 to the last quarter of 2020. At the EU level, absences accounted for 9.5 % of employment in Q4 2019. In the following two quarters, alongside the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, this share rose first to 12.3 % in Q1 2020 and then to 18.9 % in Q2 2020. Hereafter, in Q3 2020, it returned to 9.5 %. In the last quarter of 2020 (Q4), the share of absences from work rose again and reached 11.8 % of the employed population. Note that the evolution of this ratio encompasses the evolution in the level of absences but also in the level of employment. For more information on employment in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, please consult the articles Employment and Employment in detail.
The situation among the majority of the Member States was similar as for the EU as a whole: the share of absences from work increased consecutively from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020 and from Q1 to Q2 2020 and then dropped in Q3 2020. Considering this only period, Finland was an exception with a slight decrease in the share of absences between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020 (-0.1 percentage points). Also, as in the EU, the share of absences rose up again between Q3 2020 and Q4 2020 for most of the Member States, exceptions here were Malta and Denmark which marked decreases of -0.2 p.p. and -0.3 p.p. respectively, and also Romania with a decrease of -0.8 p.p. between the last two quarters of 2020.
The development from the last quarter of 2019 and throughout 2020 was quite dynamic in the majority of EU countries, with the biggest fluctuations in Greece and Cyprus. In Greece, the share of absences in Q1 2020 went up to 10.6 % from 3.4 % in Q4 2019, then increased more than twice its size, to 23.6 % in Q2 2020, dropped to 4.9 % in Q3 2020, to increase again in Q4 2020 to 12.4 %. In Cyprus, this rate rose from 7.8 % in Q4 2019 to 13.5 % in Q1 2020, ballooned to 28.5 % in Q2 2020, dropped to 8.3 % in Q3 2020, then, it increased to 9.2 % in Q4 2019. Furthermore, Cyprus was at the top of the scale with the highest rates in Q2 2020, when the rate of absences was overall the highest for the whole of 2020.
In contrast, in Sweden, the share of absences went up from 15.5 % in Q4 2019 to 16.2 % in Q1 2020 and remained relatively stable throughout the remaining three quarters of 2020: 16.7 % in Q2, 16.1 % in Q3 and again 16.7 % in Q4. Nevertheless, Sweden registered the highest share of absences among the EU countries in Q3 and Q4 2020, and the second-highest, following France, in Q1 2020. It is also worth mentioning that France was indeed always among the EU countries with the highest share of absences from work during all the quarters of 2020, with 18.1 % in Q1, 27.3 % in Q2, 14.5 % in Q3 and 16.0 % in Q4. Bulgaria and Romania also stood out from the other Member States during the same period but this time with perseveringly low rates of absences.
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Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q), (lfsi_abs_q)
Focusing only on the evolution between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, almost all Member States (24 countries out of 26 with available data) experienced an increase in the share of absences from work. The greatest increase could be found in Greece (+9.0 p.p.), followed by Slovakia (+5.8 p.p.) and Ireland (+5.1 p.p.). Only two Member States registered a smaller share of absences in the last quarter of 2020 than the last quarter of 2019, namely Estonia and Denmark with a decrease of -0.7 p.p. for both.
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Considering all four quarters of 2020, the share of absences in employment was higher for women than for men in almost all countries throughout the year (see Figure 5). The EU aggregate also confirms this with a share of absent from work women for the four consecutive quarters of 2020 accounting for 14.5 %, 21.5 %, 11.4 % and 14.2 % compared with a lower share for men of 10.5 %, 16.7 %, 7.8 % and 9.8 %. The only exception from this pattern was Malta in Q4 2020 with a share for women lower than for men (4.4 % compared with 5.1 %).
The widest gap between genders among the EU Member States could be found in Lithuanian, where during Q1 2020 the share of women who were absent from their jobs was 19.0 % compared with 6.6 % for men. The second widest gap was in Portugal, where during Q2 2020 the absence rate for women was 30.9 % whereas 20.3 % for men was. Finally, the third widest gap was in Slovenia. In this country during Q4 2020, 20.8 % of employed women were away from their jobs and employed men in the same situation were 10.8 %. It is worth noting that the employed women in Portugal in Q2 2020 and the employed women in Slovenia in Q4 2020 constituted the groups with the highest shares of absences from work among all Member States for those two quarters of 2020 respectively.
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Figure 6 indicates that at the EU level the share of absences for women is higher than the share for men during all four quarters of 2020, regardless of the reason for absence. The temporary lay-offs in Q1 2020, with 1.6 % for both genders were an exception. Having said that, the size of the gap between the shares of men and women was different depending on the reason for absence. Indeed, temporary lay-off showed the least different shares between both genders throughout the four quarters of 2020. The shares of women who were lay-offed were with on average 0.2 p.p. higher than the shares of men. On the other hand, the difference was the most pronounced for “other” reason for absence, which includes, but is not limited to, absences due to personal or family responsibilities. On average, for the four consecutive quarters of 2020, the shares of women having this reason for being absent from work were 2.5 p.p. higher than for men.
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Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q), (lfsi_abs_q)
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Absences from work due to own illness or disability
At the EU level, the number of people who were absent from work due to their own illness or disability represented a relatively stable share of employment in the period from Q4 2019 to Q4 2020. These were 2.1 % of employed people both in Q4 2019 and in Q3 2020, 2.0 % in Q1 2020 and finally 2.3 % for both Q2 and Q4 2020 (see Figure 7).
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Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q), (lfsi_abs_q)
Comparing the EU countries during the four quarters of 2020, the rate of absences due to own illness or disability in employment was the highest in Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium. In these countries, the rate never went below 3 % throughout the year. It even reached 4.2 % in Spain and 4.0 % in France during Q2 2020 and 4.0 % in Portugal during Q4 2020. Note that between Q1 and Q2 2020, Spain (+1.1 p.p.) had the most substantial quarter-on-quarter increase for this rate considering all EU countries. In contrast, absences due to own illness or disability never exceeded 1 % in Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania during all four quarters of 2020.
Taking into account the development of the share of absences due to own illness or disability between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, Latvia was the only Member State to register a decrease (2.3 % compared with 1.8 %) between these two quarters. The vast majority of EU countries (22 out of 24 with available data), had a higher share in Q4 2020 than in Q4 2019, with the greatest increases found in Slovakia, Cyprus (for both +1.2 p.p.), and Spain (+1.0 p.p.). In Belgium, the share remained persistent at 3.3 % for both Q4 2019 and Q4 2020.
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Absences from work due to holidays
Expressed as a share of employed people, absences due to holidays in the EU represented 5.5 % in Q4 2019. Hereafter, in Q1 2020, this share increased to 6.0 % and in the following two quarters, it consecutively dropped to 4.6 % and 4.2 % (resp. for Q2 and Q3 2020). In Q4 2020, the share of people absent due to holidays went up again to reach 5.4 %, an almost identical value with its level a year ago in Q4 2019 (see Figure 8).
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Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q), (lfsi_abs_q)
During the four quarters of 2020, Sweden, France, Austria and Finland were the Member States, where the share of people absent due to holidays was among the highest. Moreover, in Q1 and Q2 2020, France was on the top of the scale with 10.4 % and 8.5 % respectively, whereas in the second half of the year Sweden was on the top with 8.7 % and 8.8 % respectively for Q3 and Q4 2020. By contrast, Greece, Romania and Malta were on the other side of the scale with shares never exceeding 3 % throughout all four quarters of 2020.
The comparison between Q4 2020 and Q4 2019 reveals that less than half of the Member States (11 countries out of 25 with available data) had an increase in the share of the people being away from work due to holidays. The greatest increases were registered in Slovakia (+2.2 p.p.), Belgium (+2.0 p.p.) and Austria (+1.5 p.p.). The bigger part of the EU countries, the remaining 14, came across lower shares in Q4 2020 than in Q4 2019. The greatest decreases were in Cyprus (-2.7 p.p.), Slovenia (-1.7 p.p.) and Estonia (-1.3 p.p.).
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Absences from work due to temporary lay-off
The number of absences due to temporary lay-off had the most dramatic development after the last quarter of 2019 and throughout the whole of 2020. Converted into a share of employment at the EU level, lay-offs represented 0.2 % of the employed population in Q4 2019, and for the four consecutive quarters of 2020, this share stood at 1.6 %, 7.4 %, 1.1 % and 1.7 %.
Even if variations can be found among the Member States, the situation in each country is similar to the overall pattern at the EU level: a sharp increase of the share of temporary lay-offs can be observed from Q4 2019 to Q1 and Q2 2020 followed by a drop in Q3 2020 and an increase in Q4 2020 (see Figure 9).
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Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q), (lfsi_abs_q)
During the four quarters of 2020, Cyprus was invariably among the Member States with the highest shares of temporary lay-offs in employment. In Q1, this share in Cyprus (4.7 %) was the second-highest after Greece (5.4 %) and before Malta (4.1 %). In Q2, when the share of temporary lay-offs was overall the highest, Cyprus was on top with 23.3 %, followed by Spain (18.2 %) and Portugal (14.4 %). In the second half of 2020, Cyprus dropped to third place with 2.3 % in Q3 after Malta (3.4 %) and Spain (2.7 %) and with 2.8 % in Q4 after Greece (4.1 %) and Slovenia (4.0 %). Note that the share of temporary lay-offs was the highest in Greece both in Q1 and in Q4 2020. In contrast, Czechia was the Member State where the share of temporary lay-offs was among the lowest in the EU in almost all quarters of 2020, as it never exceeded 1 % in that period.
For reference, in Q4 2019, there is no Member State with a share of temporary lay-offs among employment greater than 1 %.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
All figures in this article are based on seasonally adjusted quarterly results from the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
Source: The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is the largest European household sample survey providing mostly quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15 and over as well as on persons outside the labour force. It covers residents in private households. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results. The EU-LFS is based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, which means that the results are comparable between countries.
European aggregates: EU refers to the sum of EU-27 Member States. If data are unavailable for a country, the calculation of the corresponding aggregates is computed with estimates. Such cases are indicated.
Country note: In Germany, from the first quarter of 2020 onwards, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is part of a new system of integrated household surveys. Unfortunately, technical issues and the COVID-19 crisis has had a large impact on data collection processes, resulting in low response rates and a biased sample. For this reason, additional data from other integrated household surveys has been used in addition to the LFS subsample, to estimate a restricted set of indicators for the first three quarters of 2020, for the production of LFS Main Indicators. These estimates have been used for the publication of German results, but also in the calculation of EU and EA aggregates. By contrast, EU and EA aggregates published in the Detailed quarterly results (showing more and different breakdowns than the LFS Main Indicators) have been computed using only available data from the LFS subsample. As a consequence, small differences in the EU and EA aggregates in tables from both collections may be observed. For more information, see here.
Definitions: The notion of temporary absence from work refers to situations in which a period of work is interrupted by a period of absence. This implies that persons are generally to be considered as having been temporarily absent from work and therefore employed, if they had already worked at their current activity and were expected to return to their work after the period of absence. Persons without work who had made arrangements to take up paid employment or to engage in some self-employment activity at a date subsequent to the reference period, but who had not yet started work, are not to be considered as temporarily absent from work.
This article refers to the following reasons for absence from work: temporary lay-off, holidays, own illness or disability and other. Absence from work is classified as a “temporary lay-off” if it is due to slack work for technical or economic reasons; this category also includes absences due to difficulties such as plant breakdown or materials shortage. Those whom written or unwritten contract of employment, or activity, has been suspended by the employer are also considered as employed and absent from work due to temporary lay-off if they have an assurance of return to work within a period of 3 months or receive at least 50 % of their wage or salary from their employer. “Own illness or disability” includes own illness, injury or temporary disability. The category “other” encompasses absences due to bad weather, labour dispute, school education or training, maternity leave, parental leave, compensation leave and other personal or family reasons.
For more information on absences from work, please consult pages 22 to 28 from EU Labour Force Survey Explanatory Notes
Also, five different articles on detailed technical and methodological information are available from the overview page of the online publication EU Labour Force Survey.
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe in January and February 2020, with the first cases confirmed in Spain, France and Italy. COVID-19 infections have now been diagnosed in all European Union (EU) Member States. To fight the pandemic, EU Member States have taken a wide variety of measures. From the second week of March, most countries closed retail shops apart from supermarkets, pharmacies and banks. Bars, restaurants and hotels have also been closed. In Italy and Spain, non-essential production was stopped and several countries imposed regional or even national lock-down measures which further stifled the economic activities in many areas. In addition, schools were closed, public events were cancelled and private gatherings (with numbers of persons varying from 2 to 50) were banned in most Member States.
The large majority of the prevention measures were taken during mid-March 2020 and most of the prevention measures and restrictions were kept for the whole of April and May 2020. The first quarter 2020 is consequently the first quarter in which the labour market across the EU has been affected by COVID-19 measures taken by the Member States.
Employment and unemployment as defined by the ILO concept are, in this particular situation, not sufficient to describe the developments taking place in the labour market. In this first phase of the crisis, active measures to contain employment losses led to absences from work rather than dismissals, and individuals could not search for work or were not available due to the containment measures, thus not counting as unemployed.
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