LONDON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of days lost at workplaces across Britain because of sickness has dropped to its lowest level since records began in 1993, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Monday.
New figures also revealed that almost one-in-ten younger people cited mental illness as a reason for taking time off from their jobs.
The official statistics agency said the average number of sickness absence days taken by workers has almost halved since 1993, from 7.2 days in 1993 to 4.1 days in 2017.
Between 2008 and 2017 sickness absence rates have fallen by 0.5 percentage points overall, to 1.9 percent. In the private sector rates have decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 1.7 percent, while in the public sector they have fallen by 0.9 percentage points to 2.6 percent.
Since 1994, the earliest data available, the rate for workers in the public sector has been consistently higher than in the private sector, although both sectors have seen an overall decrease.
Workers in large organizations with 500 or more employees reported the highest rate of sickness absences. In 2017, this stood at 2.3 percent, compared with a rate of 1.6 percent for workers in organizations that employ fewer than 25 people.
ONS said 26.2 percent of the days lost through sickness absence in 2017, totalling 34.3 million lost days, were attributed to minor illnesses, such as coughs and colds.
Back and joint pain accounted for sickness absence for 20.8 percent of workers aged 50 to 64 years and 18.7 percent of 35 to 49 year olds.
There has been an increase, said ONS, in the proportion of younger workers aged 25 to 34 who attribute their sickness absence to mental health conditions rising from 7.2 percent in 2009 to 9.6 percent in 2017, an increase of 2.4 percentage points.
There is also a divide between the sexes in sickness absence, with women more prone to minor illnesses, 38 percent of women compared with 32.7 percent of men, though men experience more sickness absence due to musculoskeletal conditions.
