Sick leave due to mental health issues has tripled in the last decade

BarcelonaFrom 2013 to 2025, sick leave taken by Catalan workers has more than doubled, and of these, leave due to mental health reasons has almost tripled, in this case between 2015 and 2024. The data comes from a report presented by the employers' association Pimec. one of the major current concerns of the business communityWhile thirteen years ago a total of 773,000 sick leaves were recorded in Catalonia, in 2024 this figure skyrocketed to 2,093,000. The study shows that the Principality has gone from an average of 3.8 hours of sick leave per month per worker – this indicator excludes vacations and other leaves, such as maternity or personal leave – to 8 hours recorded in the third quarter of last year, an increase of 110%. Even so, most of these absences from work are short. In more than 75% of cases, the leaves did not exceed 15 days. In fact, the employers' association also notes that while the number of temporary disabilities has steadily increased (+170% between 2013 and 2024), the duration has decreased: it averages 27.2 days, the second lowest figure among the autonomous communities, surpassed only by Navarre's 26.5 days. Paradoxically, Navarre and Catalonia have the highest average monthly incidence of sick leave, at 56.4 and 52.6 workers per 1,000, respectively. "We have a structural problem. We can't get on a highway, see cars going the wrong way, and think they're the crazy ones," lamented Antoni Cañete, president of Pimec. However, he assured that employers do not intend to "penalize" employees for being sick, but rather to prevent the misuse of the system.

The profile of people unable to work due to a medical problem reveals that the incidence is higher among younger people: in the 16-24 age group, 68 sick leaves are requested for every 1,000 members, while in the overall Catalan population, the figure drops to 40. A demographic factor is the aging population. "With increasing age, musculoskeletal risks increase, and this aging of the working population further increases sick leave because there is more physical wear and tear," he said. People over 55 years of age request the longest sick leaves, with an average of 58 days.

Longer waiting lists in Catalonia

If we look at the reasons why workers request sick leave, the most common are musculoskeletal disorders, followed by mental health conditions and traumas and external causes. These three categories represent a third of all cases, accounting for 66.4% of all accumulated sick days. In the case of mental health, we have gone from 62,523 cases in 2015 to 182,753 in 2024; and the total days spent in treatment for this condition have tripled (+228%). Ginesta has partly attributed this increase to the lack of mental health professionals in primary care centers, which means patients have to wait longer to be seen.

The problem of waiting lists is widespread in Catalonia. In 2024, there were 24.6 patients waiting to be seen per 1,000 inhabitants, while in Spain as a whole the figure was 17.9. Specifically, that same year there were 141 days of waiting time for surgical procedures and 104 days for outpatient appointments in Catalonia; in contrast, across Spain as a whole, the figures were 124 and 100 days respectively. According to the employers' association, one of the factors explaining this waiting time is investment in healthcare. In this indicator, Catalonia ranks last among the autonomous communities, with public spending of 5.7% of total GDP, only ahead of Madrid's 4.2%. The employers' association also pointed out that at the root of this phenomenon is the "collapse" of Catalan primary care centers (CAPs), where there is "a bottleneck that needs to be addressed." In this regard, Cañete argued that for the Catalan healthcare system to be "effective and efficient," it is necessary to incorporate the mutual insurance companies that collaborate with Social Security and pharmacies. For example, these latter facilities could become points where patients can undergo simple diagnostic tests—as was the case with COVID-19—and they could be the ones to report sick leave to the system, thus relieving pressure on public centers. Giving mutual insurance companies greater power to grant sick leave is a long-standing demand of the business sector, but the proposal also raises controversies, because these same stakeholders may have an interest in employees returning to work sooner to avoid incurring the cost of sick leave.

According to the employers' association's calculations, these absences represented a direct cost—in benefits, supplements, and social security contributions—for companies of €2,527.89 million in 2024. To this sum, Pimec adds the opportunity cost, that is, what a company failed to produce, amounting to €28,758.19 million. Finally, they estimate the cost to companies of replacing employees who do not come to work due to illness at €12,742.59 million.