4.2 million workers have illness-related work absences in January 2018

About 4.2 million workers in January 2018 missed work because they had an illness, injury, or medical problem or appointment. That was higher than the number of workers who missed work for the same reasons in January of recent years. The last time more than 4 million workers had missed work for the same reasons in January was in 2013. About 2.9 million people in January 2018 who usually work full time worked part time because of an illness, injury, or medical problem or appointment. Another 1.3 million employed people did not work at all during the survey reference week for the same reasons.

The number of workers who are absent because they have an illness, injury, or medical problem or appointment regularly spikes from December through March, coinciding with the peak in cold and flu seasons. Not all absent workers who reported they missed work because of an illness, injury, or medical problem or appointment were sick with a cold or the flu. The increase in absences during the winter months, however, likely reflects a spike in seasonal illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks the severity of the flu seasons. Preliminary data suggest the 2017–18 season has been worse than in recent years.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. This report updates information in the July 2010 report, “Illness-related work absences during flu season” (PDF), by Terence M. McMenamin. Workers are counted as full time if they usually work 35 hours or more in a week and part time if they worked fewer than 35 hours during the survey reference week. These numbers do not include people who usually work part time but missed some work—although not the entire week—for an illness-related reason. They also exclude people who took time off but still worked at least 35 hours during the survey reference week.