Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP14899 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details

Title: If Sick-Leave becomes More Costly, Will I go back to Work? Could it be too soon?

Author(s): Olivier Marie and Judit Vall-Castello

Publication Date: June 2020

Keyword(s): Absenteeism, Benefit Displacement, Negative Externalities, Paid Sick Leave, Presenteeism, Relapses Contagious Diseases, Sickness Insurance, Spain and Working Accidents

Programme Area(s): Labour Economics and Public Economics

Abstract: We investigate the impact on work absence of a massive reduction in paid sick leave benefits. We exploit a policy change that only affected public sector workers in Spain and compare changes in the number and length of spells they take relative to unaffected private sector workers. Our results highlight a large drop in frequency mostly offset by increases in average duration. Overall, the policy did reduce number of days lost to sick leave. For some, however, return to work may have been premature as we document huge increases in both the proportion of relapses and working accidents rates.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14899

Bibliographic Reference

Marie, O and Vall-Castello, J. 2020. 'If Sick-Leave becomes More Costly, Will I go back to Work? Could it be too soon? '. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14899