A Natural Experiment on Sick Pay Cuts, Sickness Absence, and Labor Costs

Nicolas Ziebarth () and Martin Karlsson

No 244, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: This study estimates the reform effects of a reduction in statutory sick pay levels on various outcome dimensions. A federal law reduced the legal obligation of German employers to provide 100 percent continued wages for up to six weeks per sickness episode to 80 percent. This measure increased the ratio of employees having no days of absence by about 7.5 percent. The mean number of absence days per year decreased by about 5 percent. The reform might have reduced total labor costs by about €1.5 billion per year which might have led to the creation of around 50,000 new jobs.

JEL-codes: H51 I18 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 p.
Date: 2009
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.344885.de/diw_sp0244.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: A natural experiment on sick pay cuts, sickness absence, and labor costs (2010)
Working Paper: A natural experiment on sick pay cuts, sickness absence, and labor costs (2010)
Working Paper: A Natural Experiment on Sick Pay Cuts, Sickness Absence, and Labor Costs (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp244

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