Statistical presentation

Data description

The statistics include absence due to sickness or maternity leave where there is a payment from the government. This means that persons who are not entitled to receive sickness benefits, for example, because of the employer's obligation to pay the first 30 days of absence (the employer period) are not included in the statistics, unless the absence is longer than 30 days, or the employer has insurance or other agreement with the government, which allows payment of benefits from the first day of absence. The statistics showdown year on year growth in the number of people over the years have received unemployment benefits because of illness, respectively, has been on maternity leave with payment of benefits. Furthermore showdown statistics, the annual cost of sickness benefits in current prices and for how many days in total have been paid benefits, as well as the legal basis for the payment. For maternity calculated additionally the number of weeks of maternity leave after the birth, respectively the father and mother.

Classification system

The statistics use the following groupings

Sex Age: The five-year intervals Unemployment benefits Type: Grouping on the basis of legal provisions Duration: Weeks

Socio-economic status: Grouping by social criteria follows Statistics Denmark Socioeconomic classification. Socio-economic status is documented (in danish) in Statistics Evidence based labor force statistics

Industry: Grouping by industry follows the Danish sector nomenclature DB07. A description (in danish) can be found at Danish Industrial Classifications

Sector coverage

Payment of allowances due to illness or maternity normally has as condition that the person has association with the labor market. Which allowed except for the graduates and the unemployed, requires hiring as an employee or self-employment. The statistics can be calculated for all the sectors appearing in The Register-based Labour Market Statistics.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Employer period: The first 30 days of absence due to sickness the law force the employer to pay either normal salary or sickness benefits. After 30 days the local authority takes over the payment of sickness benefits.

Leave due to childbirth: Leave due to childbirth

Entitled to benefits in connection with childbirth: Pursuant to the law a wage earner is entitled to receive benefits in connection with childbirth from the local authorities if the person concerned has been employed for at least 3 months and at least 120 hours just before childbirth or would have been entitled to receive unemployment benefits.

The statistics put a person to be eligible for maternity benefits if the person is either receiving benefits as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, or in the calendar year of the child's birth earn so much money that the amount would justify a daily allowance of at least 80 per cent. of the maximal amount of benefits. Self set to be entitled to unemployment benefits if the income prior to the birth year of the child would be eligible to receive unemployment benefits of at least 80 per cent. of the maximal amount of benefits.

Marital status: Information whether the person is single, married or living together.

Unifying: The process of removing part of or entire reports if two or more reports have time periods in common.

Business income: A self-employed persons income from his business as it appears from the annual accounts.

Parental leave: 14 weeks after the birth of the child the parents have the right to share a leave lasting up to 32 weeks - Also called common leave.

Full-time persons: The sum of whole, halves and one fourth of a day spend on sickness leave or childbirth leave within a given period of time divided by the length of the period.

Common leave: 14 weeks after the birth of the child the parents have the right to share a leave lasting up to 32 weeks - Also called parental leave.

Pregnancy leave: The mother is entitled to a leave the last four weeks before the due date.

Report: Set of values for the variables making up the register.

Overlap treatment: The combined process of unifying and compounding.

Case (total country): A unique combination of the variables civil registration number, employer number, kind of case, kind of case termination and date of first absence. This definition has however proved less suitable as the statistical unit, because the same sick leave can be terminated and restarted several times, resulting in more cases of the same sick leave and hence difficulties in expounding counts of number and duration. Statistics Denmark is working to develop concepts of absence which are independent of administrative rules and practices.

Case (municipality): A unique combination of the variables civil registration number, municipality, employer number, kind of case, kind of case termination and date of first absence. This definition has however proved less suitable as the statistical unit, because the same sick leave can be terminated and restarted several times, resulting in more cases of the same sick leave and hence difficulties in expounding counts of number and duration. Statistics Denmark is working to develop concepts of absence which are independent of administrative rules and practices.

Sagsart: A number identifying the legal authority for the payment of money to the citizen.

Compounding: The process of combining two reports if the last day of the first is the day before the first day of the second.

Sick courses of the year of a duration longer than 30 days: A sick course of the year is counted to be over 30 days, if the first day of absence lies in the time interval 2 December last year to 1 December that year, and there either is an employer period, while the number of sick days is greater than zero, or there is no employer period, but the sum of sick days for the same absence course is greater than 30.

Statistical unit

The statistics are published on the units number of people (affected), amounts in thousands of DK kr., weeks and cases in which a case is an administrative concept that is under replacement. One can think of a case as a start to a reported sickness absence process where the same sick leave cycle would be reported several times, in case there are several employers.

Statistical population

All individuals who have received benefits as compensation for lost income due to sickness or childbirth during a calendar year

Reference area

Individuals who are entitled to receive benefits according to Danish law or The EU-treaty.

Time coverage

The statistics cover the period from 1995 until the current year. Due to data break in practice only the period 2003 - until current.

Base period

Not relevant for these statistics.

Unit of measure

Units of measurement are amount in million Danish kroner, days or weeks in thousands, number of persons and number of events.

Reference period

The calendar year in which the payments are effected or the days of leave are taken.

Frequency of dissemination

Annual. However, data from 'Benefits in connection with sickness and childbirth etc.' is published quarterly in connection with the the statistic ’Persons receiving public benefits'.

Legal acts and other agreements

The Act on Statistics Denmark §6 (Lov om Danmarks Statistik § 6, LBK nr. 610 May the 30th 2018).

Cost and burden

Only the It-suppliers of the responsible authorities have a burden because the data is collected from administrative registers.

Comment

More information is available at the following two links:

• Sickness benefits
• Maternity benefits