Overview
- Pimec estimates the cost of temporary incapacity at roughly 10–10.5% of Catalonia’s GDP, about €33.3 billion a year, based on a cost-of-opportunity calculation.
- Workers in Catalonia wait about 24.6 days to see a clinician, around seven days longer than the national average, which Pimec highlights as a key driver of absences.
- Catalonia is ranked third in Europe for absenteeism after Norway and Slovakia, with an average of eight hours missed per worker in 2025.
- The regional health department has launched an information campaign noting Catalonia has 17% of Spain’s employed population but 25% of the country’s sick leaves.
- Recommendations include expanding mutuas’ authority to grant and end leave, reducing primary care bureaucracy, using pharmacies for processing, and enabling progressive returns, with some coverage also citing a lower €17 billion estimate.