Summary—
Absence rate over time
% of contractual hours lost to illness. Dashed grey: national rate. Markers: policy and health events.
Seasonality
Average rate per quarter over the selected period.
Ranking
Bar: end of period. Tick: start of period. Click a bar to filter the report; Ctrl/⌘‑click to add.
Biggest movers
Change in percentage points across sectors and hotspots. Click a row to filter.
| Breakdown | Start | End | Change (pts) |
|---|
Heatmap: absence rate by breakdown and year
Darker = higher. Blank cells: CBS published no figure (series break 2004–2007 for most sectors). Click a row to filter.
Matrix
Every breakdown over the selected period. Click a column to sort; click a row to filter.
What is measured
The sick-leave percentage (ziekteverzuimpercentage) is the share of contractual working hours employees were absent because of illness, excluding pregnancy and maternity leave. CBS collects it from a quarterly survey of employers.
Full-year figures are CBS's own annual numbers, not averages computed here. When several sectors are selected, the KPIs and trend show their simple average, unweighted by employment.
Things to keep in mind
- Sector and company size are separate breakdowns. CBS doesn't publish a sector-by-size cross-table, so the two filters can't be combined.
- Series break. For most sectors there are no figures for 2004–2007, when CBS switched classification and method; small firms have a gap from 2003 to 2007.
- Small firms report less absence. Part of this is real (close teams, high cost of being away), part is how absence is recorded: short spells are counted less often.
- 2026 only has Q1–Q2. Full-year 2026 appears once CBS publishes it.
What the research says
- Policy reform. The Gatekeeper Act (2002) and two years of employer-paid sick leave (2004) made employers responsible for return to work; studies link them to the fall in absence and disability claims in the mid-2000s.
- Stress and burnout. Psychological complaints are the leading cause of long-term absence in the Netherlands (TNO / CBS National Working Conditions Survey).
- Care under pressure. Health, education and public services combine high emotional workload, an older workforce and staff shortages, which feed each other.
- Seasonality. Flu and respiratory infections push absence up every winter; the Omicron wave made Q1 2022 the highest quarter on record.
Sources
- CBS StatLine 80072ned: Ziekteverzuimpercentage; bedrijfstakken en bedrijfsgrootte Open data, CC BY 4.0.
- CBS labour market dashboard: sick leave
- TNO / CBS: National Working Conditions Survey (Nationale Enquête Arbeidsomstandigheden). Annual survey of employees on workload, stress and health.