The Difference Between the Public and the Private Sector in Sickness Absence Persisted at the Population Level, but Decreased Within the Health and Social Services: Cause-Specific Sickness Absence Trends in Finland in 2005-2013
Tiivistelmä
Background
Changes in the labour market may be different in the private and the public sector. We examined differences between the employment sectors in sickness absence trends.
Methods
We used representative register data on Finnish wage earners and repeated logistic regression analysis. We estimated annual proportions of those with a new sickness absence episode (compensated by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland) in three common disease groups in the period 2005-2013 by employment sector, age and gender.
Results
Overall, the proportions of employees with a new sickness absence episode decreased in the three examined disease groups, i.e. musculoskeletal diseases, mental disorders and circulatory diseases. The decreases were small in musculoskeletal diseases among those over 54 years and in mental disorders among the younger age groups. The higher proportions of those with a new sickness absence episode in the public than in the private sector remained almost unchanged. However, within the health and social services, the difference between employment sectors decreased towards the end of the study period.
Conclusions
While sickness absences decreased, the differences in sickness absence between the public and the private sector persisted at the population level, but decreased within the health and social services. Further attention should be paid to supporting the work ability of public sector employees in particular.
Authors
Taina Leinonen, Svetlana Solovieva, Kirsti Husgafvel-Pursiainen, Lauri J. Virta, Mikko Laaksonen, Ilona Autti-Rämö ja Eira Viikari-Juntura
Additional Information
- Peer-Reviewed: yes.
- Open Access: yes.
- Cite as: Leinonen, T., Solovieva, S., Husgafvel-Pursiainen, K., Virta, L., & Laaksonen, M. (2018). Julkisen ja yksityisen sektorin välinen ero sairauspoissaoloissa on säilynyt väestötasolla mutta pienentynyt sote-alalla. Duodecim, 134(17), 1738–1748. https://www.duodecimlehti.fi/duo14481
