Economic costs of presenteeism in Hungary

Zsófia Kollányi, Eötvös Loránd University

General health status of people has a deep impact on a country’s economic performance. When calculating the economic cost caused by ill health, the economic effects of „presenteeism” – when people attend work in not perfect health condition and therefore their productivity and efficiency rates fall behind the potential level – also has to be taken into account. According to an earlier estimation that was using productivity loss data from the United States and health status data and wage rate from Hungary, the economic costs of presenteeism – that is lost production – was around 1,5% of the annual GDP in Hungary in 2011 (Orosz – Kollányi 2012). In my presentation I introduce the results of a new empirical research focusing on the frequency, the economic loss caused by, and other attributes of presenteeism in Hungary. Using the data of around 1600 respondent it will be estimated how frequent it is in Hungary that someone attends his or her workplace in not fully perfect health condition, and what impact it has on his or her work performance. It will also be revealed what health conditions are the leading causes of presenteeism. It will turn out what differences are in this regard between people with different age, gender, education, working in different sectors of the economy, or holding different positions at their workplaces. Finally, knowing their wage rate and using it as an approximation of the economic value of their work production, we can also give a more accurate estimation for the economic loss caused by presenteeism in Hungary.