Corona pandemic: More sick leave in 2022

An analysis by the Barmer health insurance company shows that employees reported sick much more frequently in 2022 than in the previous year. The reason for this is mainly diseases with the corona virus.

In the past year, the insured persons of the Barmer health insurance reported sick much more often than in 2021. That comes from one Analysis by the Barmer Institute for Health Systems Research (bifg) out. The proportion of sick leave with a corona diagnosis has also increased significantly.

December 2022 saw the highest number of sick leave reports of the year. Barmer registered 231 sick leave for every 1,000 insured persons entitled to sick pay. Compared to the 102 registered sick leave in December 2021, the number has more than doubled. In addition, the maximum value of 2021 with 155 cases of incapacity for work per 1000 insured persons with a claim to sickness benefit was clearly exceeded.

More corona diagnoses in the past year

According to the Barmer analysis, the proportion of sick leave with a corona diagnosis among all incapacities to work was higher at all times throughout the year than in 2021. While in July 2021 only 0.9 percent of all sick leave was related to corona, the figure was lower the share in July 2022 at 20.2 percent.

There are also regional differences in Germany: According to the Barmer analysis, Saxony-Anhalt was the leader in sick leave. In December, 268 people took sick leave for every 1,000 beneficiaries. In Bavaria, on the other hand, there were 202 in the same period.

2022 record year for sick leave

The results of the Barmer analysis correspond to the impressions of other health insurance companies. In January, for example, the Techniker-Krankenkasse and the DAK-Gesundheit published figures on sick leave. The latter recorded a sick leave rate of 5.5 percent for its 2.4 million employed insured in 2022. This is the highest value since the analysis began in 1997.

Respiratory diseases are mainly responsible for the increase, it said. In addition, nurses were disproportionately often on sick leave during the corona pandemic. According to DAK-Gesundheit, the increase in sick leave in Germany is also partly related to the new electronic reporting of sick leave.