Incapacity for Work Due to Disease or Injury in the Czech Republic 

Introductory note

Contents

We can characterize the development of sickness and accidents rates occurred in the Czech Republic in 2005 the following way:

Under a slight higher number of insured persons by 1.2%, new notified cases of incapacity for work in total (i.e. due to disease plus accidents at work and other accidents) per 100 insured persons went significantly up from 61.64 to 68.19 (+10.6% y-o-y).

On the other hand, the average duration per case of incapacity for work dropped from 34.77 in 2004 to 32.79 in 2005. This comparison shows that while the number of new notified cases of incapacity for work grew, their average duration was down.

In consequence of the above-mentioned changes (faster growth of new notified cases), the average percentage of incapacity for work represented by the total indicator of sickness and accident rates grew from 5.857 to 6.126 y-o-y, i.e. index 107.7.

It is apparent that, after a considerable fall in the average percentage of incapacity for work in 2004, which was affected inter alia by the amendment to Act No 54/1956 Coll., on health insurance (in effect since 1 January 2004) that enacted a significant change in the calculation of sickness benefits, the average percentage of incapacity for work and some other indicators tend to return to higher levels, yet they still are lower than in the preceding years.