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Murcia workers take nearly three weeks longer on sick leave than the Spanish average, and the cost is rising fast
New data shows recovery times in the region are significantly higher than the national norm, even as the number of new sick leave cases falls
When workers in the Region of Murcia go on sick leave, they stay off work for an average of 72 days. Across Spain as a whole, the figure is 51 days. That gap of nearly three weeks, and it's been growing, is creating a significant and escalating financial burden for businesses and the wider regional economy.The figures come from the latest analysis published by the Association of Mutual Insurance Companies for Work Accidents (Amat), covering the first half of 2026. What makes the data particularly striking is the context: the number of new sick leave cases in Murcia actually fell by 4.76% compared to the same period last year, dropping from 86,644 to 82,516. Fewer people are going off sick. But those who do are taking considerably longer to return. Average sick leave duration in the region rose by 21% in a single year, from 59.50 days to 72.06 days. The national increase over the same period was 17.4%, from 43.79 to 51.41 days.
The cost of Spain's sick leave system has been a growing concern at national level, with the bill having tripled over a decade. In Murcia the numbers are particularly sharp. In the first half of 2026 alone, the total cost of work absences in the regional mutual insurance sector reached €317.8 million, up nearly 8% on the same period last year. Of that, €181 million was paid out in benefits to workers and €136.8 million was absorbed directly by employers.
One of the more revealing details in the data concerns musculoskeletal injuries. When a Murcia worker suffers a bone, muscle or joint injury outside of working hours and is treated through the public health system, the average recovery takes 95.73 days, well above the national average of 78.14 days. But when the same type of injury occurs at work and is handled by a mutual insurance company, that figure drops dramatically to 43.43 days, almost exactly in line with the national average of 44.18 days.
The implication is clear: the route through which treatment is delivered makes an enormous difference to how quickly people recover. Self-employed workers in Murcia only recently gained access to paid sick leave, adding another dimension to how the region manages illness and absence from work.
The region's overall absenteeism rate reached 8% of agreed working hours in the second quarter of 2026, eight tenths above the national average. Antonio López Abad, president of Murcia's main business federation Croem, was direct about what that figure actually means in practice. "For there to be an average absenteeism rate of 8% or more, there have to be companies that register 15% absenteeism," he said. "We're not saying this problem exists because we feel like it. The figures are high; the problem is real."
Image: Vika Glitter/Pexels
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