European workers take a lot of sick days, and absences are at the highest level seen in 15 years. Across wealthy countries, the average number of sick days taken by workers comes in at 14 days per year, or just shy of three workweeks out sick. In Norway, the average worker took 27.5 sick days per year, essentially spending over five workweeks per year claiming illness. That’s the highest number in the group, followed by Finland (26.6 sick days). I get what you’re thinking — obviously those cold climates are causing more sickness, come on, what’s the issue here, and then you see Portugal (23.7 sick days), France (22.5 sick days) and Spain (22.4 sick days) and you begin to wonder if the so-called “sick man of Europe” is just “all of Europe.”
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