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There is a famous stock market saying that when America coughs, Europe catches the flu. It can also be transferred to intra-European economic relations: When Germany coughs, Switzerland catches the flu. The contraction of the economy in our neighboring country, our largest trading partner, is bad news for us. And so it was: 0.3 percentage points last year. A mini-recession, but that’s all; A cough that brings Switzerland with it.
A new study gives a surprising insight into the cause of the economic recession in Germany: Staff absence due to illness is responsible for the economic decline! This is according to a study by the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VfA) and first reported by the “Rheinische Post” newspaper. “Without above-average sick days, the German economy would have grown,” the study says. Specifically, by +0.5 percent. This is also just small growth, but at least it’s not a recession.
The authors of the study assume that above-average sickness absence costs the German economy 26 billion euros. Health insurance companies lost $5 billion due to numerous diseases. Additionally, the failures would lead to a $15 billion reduction in tax revenues.
Colds and mental illnesses
According to Germany’s largest statutory health insurance company, the common cold is the main culprit for many failures. They caused an average of 5.11 days of absence per employee in 2023. Before the pandemic, this period was 2.37 days.
Pandemic restrictions not only prevented Covid infections over several winters, but also infections caused by other infections such as influenza or RS viruses. Since the end of the measures, the impact of these waves of disease has become even greater.
In Switzerland, employees are unable to go to work more often than ever due to illness. Alongside flu, Covid and the like, mental illnesses are also increasingly playing a role: Absences from work for mental health reasons in Switzerland increased by 20 percent in 2023.
Good news from the Swiss perspective: “The Swiss economy is more resilient than expected,” as Swiss economist Sarah Lein (44) noted in Blick at the beginning of the year. He also sees the biggest risk for the Swiss economy in Germany. “If there is an earthquake there, we will feel it here too.” But you and other economists expect the Swiss economy to develop better than the rest of Europe. Sick days or not.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
