Early flu season sent self-certified sick leave through the roof last year

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Self-certified sick leave increased by 10.3 % in the fourth quarter of last year. In Oslo, flu was to blame for the relatively large increase from 2015’s figure.

Overall, and adjusted for flu and other seasonal variations, there were only minor changes in the overall picture of absence due to sickness in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Statistics Norway (SSB).

It increased by 0.1 %, corresponding to 1.6 % from the third quarter, and was 6.4 % since the beginning of 2017.

Self-certified sickness absence increased by 5.1 %, while the sickness absence rose by 1 %.

Before the flu adjustment, absenteeism increased by 1.9% from the fourth quarter of 2015, to 6.5 % this year. Self-certified absence increased by 10.3 %, while sickness absence rose by 0.4 %.

In Oslo, flu seems to have attacked widely, brutally, and mercilessly, sending hordes of workers to bed.

An entirety of 35,694 more personnel-days were lost in the fourth quarter, primarily due to an early flu season, according to NAV absence figures for the capital. The increase was of 4.6 % since the fourth quarter of last year.

‘The increase in the absence due to sickness figures was largely because the seasonal flu season began earlier than usual, reaching a peak in December. This led to a sharp increase in cases of sickness absence related to respiratory illnesses’, said the Municipal-Director, Hege Farnes Hildrum of NAV in Oslo.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today