Economy

Germany's growth
19 sick days a year worries in Germany: "Too spoiled"

Employees in Germany in 2023 were absent on average 19.4 working days due to illness, according to the insurance giant Techniker Krankenkasse. Before the pandemic, the average absence was just over 15 days. Preliminary figures for 2024 suggest that the rise will continue this year, writes the Financial Times.

Although it is difficult to compare countries between countries, OECD expert Christopher Prinz believes that the German disease rates are high in an international perspective.

In business, there are many testimonies about the importance of the issue. Mercedes' Swedish CEO Ola Källenius recently said that sickness absence among employees in Germany can be twice as high as in other countries. Paul Niederstein, CEO of the steel company Coatinc, believes that the development is a consequence of the workforce becoming "too spoiled and self-absorbed".

 

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The job figures in the United States
Analysis: The economy is strong - despite the weak jobs report

The labor market may be cooling down, but there is no doubt that the American economy is doing well. That's what Aaron Back writes in a comment in the Wall Street Journal on Friday's unexpectedly weak jobs report. He mainly points to the growth and the strong reporting season so far.

"It is important to avoid not seeing the forest for all the trees. A miss in the job figures does not change the overall message," writes Back.

Dagens Industris Nils Åkesson is on a similar track and does not believe that the numbers will have any major impact on the Federal Reserve. He predicts that the central bank will cut by 25 basis points on Thursday.

"How many more reductions follow, and at what pace, can be affected by both the outcome of next week's presidential election and the jobs report for the rest of the fall," Åkesson writes.