Sick leave in Spain rises by three million in five years

Sick leave: three million more in 2023

Sick leave has spiraled out of control. In 2023, three million more sick leaves were registered than five years earlier, with growth concentrated in long-term absences. What began as a footnote in HR reports has become a battleground where twenty years of grievances between generations are settled.

What the absenteeism data say

The starting point is the news that put the issue on the table: sick leave keeps growing, and within it, long-term absences carry the most weight. The jump compared to five years earlier—three million more absences—places the phenomenon far from a seasonal anecdote. Where before people talked about a flu caught on a long weekend, now they talk about processes that drag on for months and leave positions vacant for entire seasons.

In companies, the reading is almost never clinical. It mixes with suspicion, cost calculations, and the old accusation of slacking. Some argue that part of the sick leaves are timed on purpose—Mondays and Fridays, before holidays or around long weekends; others respond that this narrative has been circulating for decades without anyone proving it with data. The conversation starts in economic terms and quickly drifts toward something far less presentable.

The disincentive for young people

The explanation repeated on one side is disheartening: if work doesn't allow you to move out, start a family, or buy a home, the incentive evaporates. "If you don't offer someone hope for the future, they won't bother working," goes one of the most repeated formulations. And it's not just about money: it's about the reward, any reward, no longer showing up at the end of the month.

Against that thesis weighs the opposite. That the lack of ties—no mortgage, no children, no solid future plan—makes losing a specific job not a tragedy. Those with a monthly payment to make will row as much as needed; those without won't. The discussion then turns into a sarracena judgment about who makes an effort and who takes advantage, and that's where real analysis breaks down.

The salary that doesn't last until the end of the month

To understand why the discussion gets stuck, it's worth looking at the figures being handled. The salaries that appear again and again in the low range—between 1,000 and 1,600 euros—intersect with a rental room that costs around 500 euros. Many people do the math out loud: if rent eats up half your paycheck, what's left isn't enough to live, it's enough to survive. "The market is broken and every year it gets worse," summarizes one of the most repeated diagnoses.

The price of a car makes the problem worse. A mid-range generalist model—the kind of car that for decades symbolized the pogre working class—has starting prices above 30,000 euros. Add to that maintenance: breakdowns of anti-pollution systems that cost around 2,000 euros at once, without warning.

Mental health: the sick leave that starts in the head

The health component explains part of the puzzle that productivity figures don't see. One testimony describes the pattern observed from the inside at a former office: anxiety and depression in women, and cancer processes in both sens. It's a personal observation, not a statistic, but it matches the general conversation about anxiolytics and antidepressants, which has stopped being a taboo and become common currency.

Here the tone changes. There's no room for irony when facing a mental health problem that becomes chronic or a serious diagnosis. What those who have seen the phenomenon from the inside maintain is that part of the prolonged absences don't respond to laziness, but to real clinical conditions that drag on.

Emigrating: the plan that is no longer a hypothesis

Against that backdrop, the exit of young talent stops being a theoretical possibility. The figures cited suggest that in the last four years more than 500,000 young people have left Spain, and around 60% had higher education. Among the most repeated destinations are Germany, Ireland, or Switzerland, where the same profile lands double what they'd be paid at home. "I earn more than double what I would in Spain and pay the same rent," summarizes someone who has already taken the step.

It's not all the brochure sold from here. Some warn that many return after a few months and that finding papers and a stable job abroad is harder than it seems. The comparison with the domestic system, in any case, is the background of the discussion, and those processing the paperwork of those leaving see it every day.

Pensions: the knot nobody unties

The end of the road is financial. The discussion about sick leave inevitably leads to the sustainability of pensions, and there the tone becomes cruder. One side argues that younger generations won't contribute enough to sustain current benefits; the other responds that the problem is the system's design, not who contributes. A system where, moreover, the demographic pyramid is inverted and the base is getting narrower.

When the debate is framed in terms of who pays whom, the conversation gets poisoned. Those who maintain they work to support others clash with those who maintain they already supported those above. Nobody gives in, because deep down both believe they're right.

With this picture, what's striking isn't that sick leaves are increasing. What's striking is that there are still accusing fingers pointing at the neighbor's paycheck without reading it first. In 2023, Spain registered three million more sick leaves than five years earlier. How many respond to slacking and how many are what remains of a working life that stopped compensating those who sustain it is a question nobody has wanted to answer with numbers.