Hospitality workers They are experiencing a sort of epidemic of work stoppages for medical reasons, which has exploded since the appearance of the coronavirus.. The number of unworked hours per employee per month due to these processes has doubled since the end of 2019. So, while in the third quarter of 2019 an average of 3.9 working hours per employee per month were lost due to this reason, in the same period of 2025 this figure was already 7.7 hours. This is reflected in data from the Quarterly Labor Cost Survey (ETCL), published last week by the INE.
The hotel industry has become the sector in which hours not worked due to temporary incapacity (TI) have seen the fastest growthterm used to designate sick leave in work jargon. Since the third quarter of 2019, the increase in IT in the hospitality sector has exceeded that of other activities such as transport and storage (67% more hours lost than six years ago), construction (66%) or commerce (64%).
Before the pandemic, the hospitality sector was the fifth of the 18 sectors that make up the Spanish economy with the lowest rate of work stoppages. However, The strong rebound observed in recent years has propelled it to tenth place, with foreign trade.. In any case, it still does not reach the levels of the health sector (10.7 hours lost per worker per month) or water supply, sanitation, waste management and decontamination activities (12.6), which are the professions with the highest incidence of temporary disability traditionally recorded.
The increase in sick leave has spread across all sectors of the Spanish economy, although unevenly. Time not worked for this reason has increased by 61% nationally since the end of 2019. Near this reference, professions such as those of employees in administrative and auxiliary services (61%) or in the manufacturing industry (57%) also appear.
Insteadthere are activities where the rebound in hours lost due to IT has been much more moderate. We are talking, for example, about public administration, where hours not worked by IT increase by 13%. Finance (21%); education (24%); artistic, recreational and entertainment activities (29%); scientific and technical professional activities (32%); information and communications (32%) or health and social services (34%). In fact, there are sectors, such as the financial sector, where lost hours have even been reduced compared to 2019.
Possible causes
There is no single cause that explains the general increase in sick leave for medical reasons, but several factors can influence it. Among them are saturation of the health systemwhich extends the time taken for diagnostic tests or medical appointments, thus delaying discharges. Studies on the subject also detect an increase in work stoppages due to mental health, long-term processes and people who record more than one work stoppage per year.
The drastic increase in sick leave for medical reasons has become cause great concern for businesses. A concern also shared, although from a different angle, within Social Security, which is seeing the costs it supports in temporary disability benefits skyrocket.
More raises where wages are low
One of the most striking factors in IT’s rebound is that some of the sectors in which it is growing the most (such as hospitality, other services, construction or commerce) are among the lowest paid in the Spanish economy. A factor they share with the common denominator that these are eminently in-person jobs. On the other hand, activities such as the energy sector, public administration or finance, which are among the best paid, show smaller increases in sick leave.
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