France reports record absenteeism and rising employee representation

A new report from Groupe APICIL and Groupe JLO shows that absenteeism in France reached a record rate of 4.68% in 2025, up from 4.41% in 2024. This increase is primarily driven by a rise in long-term sick leave lasting more than 90 days. While the average duration of leave has decreased slightly to 19.45 days, micro-absenteeism—leaves lasting fewer than three days—now accounts for 23.55% of all cases.

Illness remains the leading cause of absence, accounting for 90.03% of cases. Specifically, 42.75% of absences exceeding 30 days are linked to mental health issues, while 30.54% are due to musculoskeletal disorders. The healthcare sector is the most affected industry with a 7.22% absenteeism rate. Demographic data indicates that manual workers, seniors, and women experience higher rates of absenteeism compared to other groups.

Separately, data from Dares indicates a slight recovery in social dialogue within French companies. After five years of decline following the implementation of Social and Economic Committees (CSE), the proportion of private non-agricultural companies with elected staff representatives rose by 1.4 percentage points between 2023 and 2024. While only 37.2% of companies with 10 or more employees have such instances, these bodies cover 78% of the employees in the studied sector.