Table 11. Employed persons and absence from work during the whole survey week by reason for absence and sex(1). 1000 and per cent

LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, 4th Qu. 2004
11	Employed persons and absence from work during the whole survey week by reason for absence and sex¹. 1000 and per cent

	Annual average		2003		2004

	2003	2004	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter


	1000

EMPLOYED PERSONS	2 269	2 276	2 278	2 260	2 255	2 283	2 290	2 274
At work	1 914	1 911	1 714	1 985	1 967	1 967	1 711	1 998
Temporarily absent	354	365	564	275	287	316	580	276
Illness²	88	81	76	99	96	81	68	79
Holiday	157	169	396	62	77	97	419	82
Taking time off/working time arrangement	44	51	33	45	51	62	39	52
Other reasons/unspecified	67	64	59	69	63	76	54	63

MALES	1 198	1 201	1 199	1 192	1 191	1 203	1 210	1 200
At work	1 040	1 035	931	1 076	1 061	1 060	938	1 082
Temporarily absent	158	166	268	116	130	143	272	117
Illness²	37	35	35	41	41	33	31	33
Holiday	79	85	202	31	41	49	208	40
Taking time off/working time arrangement	25	29	20	28	30	36	23	29
Other reasons/unspecified	16	17	12	17	19	24	9	15

FEMALES	1 071	1 074	1 079	1 068	1 063	1 080	1 080	1 075
At work	874	875	783	909	906	907	773	916
Temporarily absent	197	199	296	159	157	173	308	159
Illness²	50	46	42	59	55	48	37	45
Holiday	78	84	194	32	36	47	211	42
Taking time off/working time arrangement	18	22	13	17	22	26	16	23
Other reasons/unspecified	51	47	47	52	44	52	45	48

	Per cent of employed persons

ABSENCE, TOTAL	15.6	16.0	24.8	12.2	12.7	13.8	25.3	12.1
Males	13.2	13.8	22.4	9.8	10.9	11.9	22.5	9.8
Females	18.4	18.5	27.4	14.9	14.8	16.0	28.5	14.8

Illness²	3.9	3.6	3.4	4.4	4.3	3.6	3.0	3.5
Males	3.1	2.9	2.9	3.4	3.4	2.8	2.6	2.8
Females	4.7	4.3	3.9	5.5	5.2	4.5	3.4	4.2

Holiday	6.9	7.4	17.4	2.8	3.4	4.2	18.3	3.6
Males	6.6	7.0	16.8	2.6	3.4	4.1	17.2	3.4
Females	7.2	7.8	18.0	3.0	3.4	4.4	19.5	3.9

Taking time off/working time arrangement	1.9	2.2	1.4	2.0	2.3	2.7	1.7	2.3
Males	2.1	2.5	1.7	2.3	2.5	3.0	1.9	2.4
Females	1.7	2.0	1.2	1.6	2.0	2.4	1.4	2.2

Other reasons/unspecified	2.9	2.8	2.6	3.0	2.8	3.3	2.4	2.8
Males	1.3	1.4	1.0	1.4	1.6	2.0	0.8	1.3
Females	4.7	4.4	4.4	4.9	4.2	4.8	4.1	4.5

¹ Alternating holidays influence figures on absence. This will often cause break in series. ² Compared to the same quarter one year before, there is a decrease in the number of persons who were temporarily absent due to illness, from the 4th quarter 2002 to the 3rd quarter 2003. This is mainly due to the increased use of a new arrangement where persons are allowed to perform work during their sickness absence. In the LFS these persons are classified as employed at work if they performed any work during the survey week. The sickness absence statistics which are based on other information, show continued increase in sickness absence for the whole periode.