Early commuters more likely to claim illness benefit

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People who have earlier commutes to work are more likely to claim illness benefits, a report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has shown.

Those who walked or cycled to work were less likely to claim illness benefits than those who travelled by car, with the highest rate of claims came from those who left home for work before 6.30am.

The CSO’s Illness Benefits: Employment and Commuting Analysis examines commuting and employment data for people who received illness or injury benefits in the year following Census 2016.

According to the report, long commuting times can have significant impacts on work-life balance, well-being, and stress levels and can indirectly impact on people’s ability to manage their own health and well-being. Commuting can have a negative impact on health if the person is, for example, using a car instead of walking, and where exposure to pollution is increased by commuting.

Kieran Culhane, Senior Statistician with the CSO, said: “An illness benefit claim was made by 80 in 1,000 employees in this period, with 15 employees making multiple illness benefit claims and nine making an illness benefit claim of six months or longer. Over this time, an occupational injury benefit claim was made by five employees per 1,000.

“Illness benefit rate was higher for women at 103 per 1,000 employees compared with 55 for men. Illness benefit was more common as age increased. For workers under 25 years, the rate was 35 per 1,000 employees, compared with 94 among workers aged 45-64,” he added.

Early risers are more likely to claim illness benefits 

According to Mr Culhane, the statistics show that the earlier someone left for work, the more likely they were to claim illness benefits.

“Illness benefit rates were above average for those who left home for work before 8.00am, with the highest rate of 101 per 1,000 employees for those who left before 6.30am.

“Transport mode showed that those either driving a car to work or travelling as a passenger in a car had the highest rates of illness benefit at 91 and 86 per 1,000 employees respectively. Active modes such as cycling a bicycle (44) or walking (63) were amongst the lowest.” 

The study showed that higher earners are less likely to claim illness benefit.

“The occupations and economic sectors of workers who received illness benefit is reflected in the earnings data, with below average illness benefit rates among higher earners. The rate of illness benefit is above the average of 80 per 1,000 employees for all annual earnings up to €60,000, with the highest rate of 103 for those earning between €30,000 and €50,000.

“Workers earning more than €70,000 a year had the lowest illness benefit rate of 43 per 1,000 employees.”