The provided bar chart delineates how absenteeism rates, categorised into five different reasons, changed in a country in Europe in three separate years, namely 2000, 2005 and 2010.
At first glance, it is readily discernible that while the proportion of respondents who said they took time off work due to illness and family obligations decreased, those who cited stress, personal needs and unexpected problems experienced an upward trend. Additionally, illness was always the main reason why people do not go to work, whereas the opposite was true in the case of stress.
In 2010, the proportion of people who said they missed work due to illness was nearly 45%. Despite seeing a steady decline to 35% over the decade, this cause remained the most popular. Moreover, family obligations followed a similar trend, starting at around 27% before levelling off above 25% from 2005 to 2010.
Regarding the data on stress, personal needs and unexpected problems, initially, about 14% of people surveyed said they missed work due to personal needs as well as appointments, then this number rose to about 9% in 2010. Meanwhile, stress had lower growth, starting at about 6% and ending at about 12% in the final year. Furthermore, an ascent was also seen in figures for unforeseen problems (traffic, weather and the like), rising from about 8% in 2000 to a peak of nearly 15% five years later. before descending slightly in 2010.