Statistical presentation

Data description

The statistics on absence describe the amount of work that is lost due to absence in both absolute and relative measures. The statistics are published for the governmental sector, the local governmental sector and the private sector. Statistics according to the new sector definition from 2013 are also published for the labour market as a whole. The statistics cover in principal all employees in the governmental sector and the local governmental sector while the private sector is described by a representative sample of enterprises with 10 or more employees. Absence is divided into "Own sickness", "Children's sickness", "Occupational injury" and "Maternity and adoption leave" and is grouped by the variables occupation, education, industry, region, age and sex. "Own sickness" is further more grouped by lengths of period. The absolute and relative measures that are published are:

• Absence rate
• Number of absence days (in full day equivalents)
• Number of periods of absence
• Average no. of absence days per full-time employed
• Average no. of absence periods per full-year employed
• Average no. of calendar days per absence period
• Number of full-time employed
• Number of full-year employed

Classification system

Grouping variables:

• Occupation - Up to and including 2009 the grouping by occupation is based on the variable DISCO-løn. From 2010 the new variable, DISCO-08, is used instead. DISCO-08 is a revised version of DISCO-løn and is the Danish version of the international classification ISCO-08. The DISCO variable is independent of the formal title and the education of the employed, it is only dependent upon the qualifications that are necessary in the job and the type of work that is done. This definition makes it possible to compare persons that have the same occupation.

• Industry - Until 2007 the grouping by industry follows the Danish nomenclature for industry from 2003 (DB03) which is an extended version of EU's nomenclature NACE rev. 1.1 from 2003. From 2007 the grouping by industry follows the new nomenclature for industry, DB07. DB03 and DB07 are in principle classifications of economic activities. It is used as a classification of firms describing their main activities.

• Education - The persons are classified by their highest level of education completed. The information comes from Statistics Denmark's register of the population's education. This register is updated on a yearly basis with information from the educational institutions. In 2015 the Denmark Statistics' education statistics started using a new classification of education called DISCED-15, which replaced the previous, DUN and Forspalte1. For more information see under https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/dokumentation/Nomenklaturer/ny-uddannelsesklassifikation-DISCED-15

• Area - The grouping is by the region or municipality where the workplace is located.

• Age - Grouping by five years intervals (-19 years (up to and including 19 years), 20-24, 25-29,......,60+ (including 60 years and on)).

• Sex.

• Sector - Absence is grouped by All sectors, General government, Government including social security funds, Municipal and regional government total, Regional government, Municipal government, Corporations and organizations.

• Lengths of period - number of periods and days of absence concerning own sickness is divided by lengths of period measured by calendar days.

Sector coverage

The statistics of absence cover the public sector and the private sector except agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Number of Absence Days: Measures the number of days in full day equivalents that fall within the year. Defined as 7.4 hours a day. An absence period of three hours and a absence period of 4.4 hours amount to a whole day.

Number of Periods of Absence: Measures the number of absence periods that ends in the year.

Number of Full-Time Employed: A full-time employed is defined as a person who is employed 37 hours per week all year. A person who is employed for 20 hours a week all year and another person who is employed 17 hours a week all year amounts to one full-time employed when combined.

Number of Full-Year Employed: A full-year employed is defined as a person who is employed all year. A person who is employed for three months and another person who is employed for 9 months amounts to one full-year employed when combined.

Average no. of Absence Days per Full-time Employed: Measures the number of absence days (in full day equivalents) that falls within the year per full-time employed.

Absence Rate: Measures the days of absence in percent of the possible days of work - both measured in full day equivalents. The possible days of work are defined as the number of days at work a person could have worked if the person had not been absent and are the sum of the actual days of work and then days of absence. Vacation etc. are excluded from the possible days of work. Full day equivalents are defined as 7.4 hours.

Average no. of Absence Periods per Full-Year Employed: Measures the number of absence periods that ends in the year per full-year employed.

Average no. of Calendar Days per Absence Period: Measures the number of calendar days per absence period that ends in the year.

Statistical unit

The units of the statistics of absence are enterprises and public organizations, each enterprise being a legal unit. In the Statistical Business Register of Statistics Denmark a legal unit is identified by its CVR-number from the Central Business Register. Periods of absence are collected for all employees employed at the units. For the statistics of absence a period of absence for an employed person is the statistical unit.

Statistical population

In the governmental and municipal sector all the employed are included while the private sector is described by a representative sample of about 2600 firms. The sample is selected from a population of enterprises with 10 or more employees. Chronically sick persons and persons in flexible or light jobs are not included.

In the case of all three sectors a number of jobs are excluded from the statistics of absence. This is the case for persons who have only worked for a very short period of time, persons who have only worked very few hours a week or persons for whom the number of hours worked are not known.

Reference area

The statistics cover Denmark. Greenland and The Faroe Island are not included.

Time coverage

Statistics according to the changed sector definition are published for 2013 and forward. From 2013 the statistics are also published for the labour market as a whole.

• The statistics for the governmental sector cover the period from 2003 and forward.
• From 2005 and forward results for the municipality sector and the regional sector were published together. From 2010 results for the two sectors were published separately.
• The statistics for the private sector cover the period from 2007 and forward.

Base period

Not relevant for these statistics.

Unit of measure

The statistical measures that are included in then statistics are:

• Absence rate - Measures the days of absence in percent of the possible days of work - both measured in full day equivalents.
• Number of absence days (in full day equivalents) - Measures the number of days that fall within the year.
• Number of periods of absence - Measures the number of absence periods that ends in the year.
• Average no. of absence days per full-time employed - Measures the number of absence days (in full day equivalents) that falls within the year per full-time employed.
• Average no. of absence periods per full-year employed - Measures the number of absence periods that ends in the year per full-year employed.
• Average no. of calendar days per absence period - Measures the number of calendar days per absence period that ends in the year.
• Number of full-time employed - A full-time employed is defined as a person who is employed 37 hours per week all year. A person who is employed for 20 hours a week all year and another person who is employed 17 hours a week all year amounts to one full-time employed when combined. A full-time employed is calculated on basis of the hours worked reported to the earnings statistics. The number of employees in the statistics of absence can not be used as statistics of employment.
• Number of full-year employed - A full-year employed is defined as a person who is employed all year. A person who is employed for three months and another person who is employed for 9 months amounts to one full-year employed when combined.

For the public sector the number if full-time employees and full-year employees are calculated on basis of the number of jobs that are included in the statistics of absence. For the private sector the number of full-time employees and full-year employees are calculated on basis of the number of jobs that are included in the population to which the sample is enumerated. That is all enterprises with 10 employees or more.

A full day equivalent is defined as 7.4 hours. Possible days of work are defined as the number of working days (in full day equivalents) that a person could have had, had he not been absent. In other words, it is the sum of the actual days of work and the days of absence. Holidays etc. are excluded from the possible days of work.

Reference period

01-01 - 31-12

Frequency of dissemination

The statistics are published on a yearly basis.

Legal acts and other agreements

The information is collected in accordance with the Act on Statistics Denmark § 6 and § 8. The statistics is not based on EU regulation.

Cost and burden

The response burden is minimized by using already collected data material whenever possible. Furthermore, almost all data are collected electronically. Some enterprises already register information on absence. For these enterprises the statistics on absence will not be a considerably extra burden.

There is no respondent burden estimate for these statistics.

Comment

Further information can be found at the Subject Page for these statistics, or by contacting Statistics Denmark directly.