32    Sickness absence man-days2 for employees with sickness absence certified by
a doctor and self-sertified1, by county of work. In per cent of scheduled man-days
(sickness absence rate). Quarterly figures.

  Per cent Relative change
  Quarter 1 2007 Quarter 2 2007 Quarter 1 2008 Quarter 2 20082 Change 1 quarter last year Change 2 quarter last year
TOTAL 7,3 6,5 7,4 6,8 1,1 4,9
   Østfold 8,4 7,5 8,4 7,8 0,6 3,6
   Akershus 7,4 6,5 7,4 6,8 0,4 4,7
   Oslo 6,8 5,9 6,7 6,0 -2,1 2,9
   Hedmark 8,3 7,3 8,2 7,7 -1,8 6,1
   Oppland 8,6 7,5 8,2 7,7 -5,0 2,3
   Buskerud 8,0 7,0 7,9 7,2 -0,9 2,9
   Vestfold 7,3 6,3 7,2 6,7 -1,1 7,2
   Telemark 7,6 6,7 7,8 7,1 3,7 5,6
   Aust-Agder 7,1 6,3 7,4 6,9 4,7 9,7
   Vest-Agder 6,9 6,2 7,2 6,5 3,6 5,0
   Rogaland 5,8 5,1 6,0 5,5 3,9 8,3
   Hordaland 7,2 6,4 7,4 6,8 2,3 6,2
   Sogn og Fjordane 6,6 5,8 7,3 6,3 10,1 8,8
   Møre og Romsdal 7,3 6,6 7,7 6,9 5,8 4,4
   Sør-Trøndelag 7,4 6,5 7,5 6,8 2,2 5,3
   Nord-Trøndelag 7,8 7,2 8,2 7,4 5,1 2,8
   Nordland 8,4 7,5 8,4 7,8 -0,5 4,7
   Troms 8,4 7,7 8,5 8,0 1,5 3,5
   Finnmark 9,5 8,9 9,9 9,1 4,7 2,1
   Not reported, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Continental sh 4,6 4,5 5,3 5,1 15,5 13,7

1 Animal husbandry service activities (except veterinary activities), extraction of crude petroleum
and natural gas,water transport, private households with employed persons and extra territorial
organizations and bodies are not included in the sample survey about self-certified sickness absence.
2 Easter was in the first quarter in 2008 and in the second quarter in 2007. This is influential when we compare second quarter figures from these two years.
During Easter, scheduled man-days decrease more than man-days lost due to sickness absence, which leads to a higher sickness absent rate. Due to earlier observations,
we estimate that if we did not take the Easter week into account, the sickness absence rate would have dropped about 0.1 percentage points in the second quarter in 2007.