Statistical presentation

Data description

The statistics include absence due to illness where there is either a payment from the public sector or an application. This means that people who are not entitled to receive sickness benefits, for example due to the employer's obligation to pay for the first 30 days of absence (the employer period), are not included in the statistics, unless the absence is longer than 30 days or the employer has insurance or other agreement with the public sector that enables payment of unemployment benefits from the first day of absence. The statistics show the year-by-year development in the number of people who have received unemployment benefits due to illness during the year. The statistics also show the annual cost of sickness benefits in current prices and the total number of days for which benefits have been paid.

Classification system

The following groupings are used: Gender, age (ten-year intervals), labour market affiliation (employee, self-employed or unemployed) and region (regions and municipalities). Grouping by socio-economic status and industry is planned but not realised.

Sector coverage

Payment of unemployment benefit due to illness is conditional on the person having a connection to the labour market. With the exception of recent graduates and the unemployed, this requires employment as an employee or self-employment. The statistics can therefore be calculated for all sectors that appear in the Register-based Labour Force Statistics.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Employer period: The number of days of sick leave, counted from the first day of sick leave, during which the employer is required by law to pay either salary or sickness benefit.

Partial return to work: A situation where an employee or self-employed person on sick leave works a reduced number of hours compared to their normal working hours and receives sickness benefits for the hours not worked. This arrangement is often used when a person suffering from stress is gradually training to return to a full workweek.

Full-time person: Unit used to convert absence to full-time level in a given period. Calculated as the sum of full, half and quarter days of absence in hours within a period divided by the number of hours worked by a full-time employee in the same period.

Statistical unit

The statistics are published in the units number of people (affected), full-time equivalents.

Statistical population

Persons who, under Danish or EU law, have received sickness benefits from Danish authorities or whose employer or they themselves have applied for sickness benefits.

Reference area

People with a connection to the Danish labour market regardless of residence.

Time coverage

The statistics cover the period from 2020 onwards.

Base period

Not relevant for this statistic.

Unit of measure

The statistics are published in the units number of people (affected), full-time equivalents, amounts in thousands of DK kroner and days.

Reference period

The calendar year in which the days are held.

Frequency of dissemination

Annually.

Legal acts and other agreements

There is a legal basis for obtaining the information pursuant to Section 6 of the Act on Statistics Denmark, cf. Consolidated Act no. 610 of 30 May 2018

Cost and burden

The statistics are based on administrative data. Therefore, there is no direct reporting burden when compiling these statistics.

Comment

Further information can be obtained by contacting Statistics Denmark. The Sickness Benefits Act can be found at Retsinformation, and easy-to-understand guides on how the sickness benefit system works can be found at Borger.dk, on the websites of many unemployment insurance funds, and on the websites of many municipalities.