If sick-leave becomes more costly, will I go back to work? Could it be too soon?

Olivier Marie and Judit Vall Castello

No 2020/09, Working Papers from Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB)

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, return to work may have been premature as we document very large increases in both the proportion of relapses and the working accidents rate.

Keywords: Sickness Insurance; Paid Sick Leave; Absenteeism; Presenteeism; Relapses Contagious Diseases; Benefit Displacement; Working Accidents; Negative Externalities; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I13 I18 J22 J28 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ias and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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https://ieb.ub.edu/en/publication/2020-09-if-sick- ... ould-it-be-too-soon/ (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: If Sick-Leave becomes More Costly, Will I go back to Work? Could it be too soon? (2020)
Working Paper: If Sick-Leave Becomes More Costly, Will I Go Back to Work? Could It Be Too Soon? (2020)
Working Paper: If Sick-Leave becomes More Costly, Will I go back to Work? Could it be too soon? (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2020-09

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