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The effects of expanding the generosity of the statutory sickness insurance system

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Abstract

In 1999, in Germany, the statutory sick pay level was increased from 80 to 100 percent of foregone earnings for sickness episodes of up to six weeks. We show that this reform has led to an increase in average absence days of about 10 percent or one additional day per employee, per year. The estimates are based on SOEP survey data and parametric, nonparametric, and combined matching-regression difference-in-differences methods. Extended calculations suggest that the reform might have increased labor costs by about e1.8 billion per year and might have led to the loss of around 50,000 jobs.

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  • Ziebarth N & Karlsson M, 2009. "The effects of expanding the generosity of the statutory sickness insurance system," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/35, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
  • Handle: RePEc:yor:hectdg:09/35
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sickness absence; statutory sick pay; natural experiment; Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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