Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/150791 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 245
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
In 1999, in Germany, the statutory sick pay level was increased from 80 to 100 percent of foregone earnings for sicknessepisodes of up to six weeks. We show that this reform has led to an increase in average absence days of about 10 percent or one additional day per employee, per year. The estimates are based on SOEP survey data and parametric, nonparametric, and combined matching-regression difference-in-differences methods. Extended calculations suggest that the reform might have increased labor costs by about €1.8 billion per year and might have led to the loss of around 50,000 jobs.
Subjects: 
Sickness absence
statutory sick pay
natural experiment
Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)
JEL: 
H51
I18
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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