The line graph gives information about what percentage of employees were absent from work due to illness for one or more days, between 1991 and 2001. Overall, there was an upward trend in the figures for the Netherlands and France, while the proportion of such absences in Sweden generally declined over the period in question. In the meanwhile, the percentage of workers who took one or more sick days off in the UK and Germany fluctuated slightly throughout the years. Strikingly, the Netherlands had consistently a higher share of workers calling in sick for one or more days than the remaining four in all the years given.
It is clear that the proportion of workers with illness absence decreased from 5% in 1991 to 3% in 2001 in Sweden. Meanwhile, the share of such employees in the Netherlands increased slightly to 6% in 1992, but then it began to decline. Although this figure experienced a downward trend, in 2001 workers with sickness absence went up to roughly 6% in this country and maintained its dominance. Similarly, in France the number of workers who are absent because of illness rose from 3% to 5% at the end of the period given.
On the other hand, there are such workers in the United Kingdom and France, but in these countries the percentage of this kind of workers saw a slight fluctuation and the lowest than other given European countries. In the UK the percentage of employees who took days off because of illness witnessed an oscillation at 2,5% between 1991 and 2001.Another remarkable point is that the share of these workers in Germany increased minimally to roughly 2%, but then it decreased to 1,5% in 1997 and then had risen until 2001.