While the government approves a reduction of the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours by decree, the absenteeism rate in Spain has not stopped increasing since the end of the pandemic. It rose to 7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024, which is two tenths of a percentage point higher than in the same period of the previous year, while absenteeism due to Temporary Disability (IT) has already reached 5.8%, also two tenths of a percentage point above the figure from a year earlier.
This is confirmed by the “XI Quarterly Report: Absenteeism and Occupational Accidents” prepared by Adecco, which details that between September and December 2024, the agreed working hours accumulated 454 hours per worker, of which 31 hours per employee were lost due to absenteeism. Therefore, the hours not worked for this reason were equivalent to 1.252 million salaried workers not having gone to their jobs for a single day.
Adecco also analyzes occupational accident data in its labour report, which reflects that the incidence stands at 214 accidents per 100,000 workers during working hours and 37 for commuting accidents (up 1%). Regarding the severity of accidents, the report notes that 99.2% are minor during working hours (135,992 accidents), while commuting accidents reach 98.8% (23,596 accidents). Fatal accidents during working hours represent 0.1% and amount to 180 accidents (up 20% year-on-year).
