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By James Debono
A total of 801,023 days of sick leave were lost in 2004. According figures supplied by the National Statistics Office, there were 137,267 gainfully employed persons in October 2004. This means that on average each gainfully occupied person (including the self employed) in Malta has taken an average of 5.9 days of sick leave. If one were to calculate the 20,000 persons whose primary occupation was a part time job, this figure will drop to an average of five days per worker.
The figures issued by the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity also reveal a discrepancy between employees and those employed in the public sector.
Employees in the public sector are taking twice the amount of sick leave as salaried employees in the private sector. Yet the category, which takes the greatest amount of sick leave in Malta, are the self-employed.
The Malta Financial and Business Times has been informed by the Ministry of the Family and Social Solidarity that workers who pay their social security contributions through the “bulk payment system” have taken 385,727 days of sick leave in 2004. This figure includes all those working in government’s departments, corporations such as Maltacom, Enemalta and also the major banks i.e. Central Bank, HSBC and BOV. This means that a total of 56080 workers have taken 385,727 days of sick leave. This means that on average each worker in this sector has taken 6.9 days of sick leave in 2004. If employees in the banking sector follow the same patterns as their other colleagues in the private sector, the amount of sick leave in this sector would be even higher.
The same statistics show that workers in the private sector took a total of 291,972 days sick leave. This means that 84902 workers (the figure includes both full time employees and employees whose principle employment is a part time job but excludes those employed in BOV and HSBC) have benefited from 291972 days of sick leave. This means that on average each worker in the private sector has taken an average of 3.4 days of sick leave. If one where to exclude part timers this figure will rise to 4.4 days.
With regards to the self-occupied, there were 123,324 days of sick leave taken in 2004. In October 2004 the number of self employed amounted to 16,010.This effectively means that each self-employed person benefited from nearly 8 days of sick leave. Self-employed do not receive any sickness benefit for the first three days of each spell of incapacity for work but receive benefits for the other days in each spell. This could explain why this category takes more sick leave than employed persons in both private and public sectors.
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