Sick leave in Austria slightly down, but still above pre-pandemic level

Short sick leaves of less than four days accounted for 44.7 percent, but this only made up ten percent of all days missed. The predominant share of absences is therefore attributable to longer illnesses. Women have on average more sick leave days, namely 15.5 compared to 14.1 for men, as study author Christine Mayrhuber of Wifo explained at a press conference.

Gender gap

Speaking about the difference between the genders, Mayrhuber described it as „eine Entwicklung, die ich mit Sorge sehe und die wir sehr ernst nehmen müssen“. The gender-specific trend has reversed over the years: In the 1980s, the sick leave rate of men was still 25 percent higher than that of women. „Dieser Abstand verringerte sich in den folgenden Jahren kontinuierlich, was zuerst zu einer Angleichung und in den letzten Jahren zu einer Umkehrung im Verhältnis der geschlechtsspezifischen Krankenstandsquoten führte“, the report states.

The report cites several factors for the shift: The number of women over 50 among employees is rising more sharply than that of men, and women are increasingly employed in sectors with above-average sick leave rates such as health and social services. The diagnosis structure has also changed: While the share of musculoskeletal disorders declined over the years (1994: 22.4 percent, 2025: 19.1 percent), there has been a silent rise in mental illnesses – their share currently stands at 11.8 percent, compared with just 2.6 percent in 1994.

Pandemic aftermath and mental illness

On the consequences of the pandemic, Mayrhuber said: „Das ist gekommen, um zu bleiben.“ Respiratory illnesses have increased since the pandemic. „Das ‚Jahrhundert schont den Körper, fordert aber den Geist, und auf diese Entwicklung muss es Antworten geben“, the Wifo expert warned. Specifically, better care for mental illnesses is needed: „Es braucht eine gezielte Ansprache, um diese Versorgungslücken zu schließen“, Mayrhuber stressed.

That these gaps exist is also evident from a look at utilization: More than 94 percent of those affected initially turn to general medicine. Therapeutic professions at 12.2 percent and physical medicine at 8.9 percent, by contrast, are utilized relatively little. Mayrhuber sees this as a clear case of undersupply.

Sectors with divergent trends

By contrast, sick leave in male-dominated sectors such as construction and manufacturing has been „auch durch den Einsatz neuer technischer Hilfsmittel langfristig rückläufig“. These are sectors in which traditionally more men work and in which automation and technical aids have alleviated physically heavy tasks.