"Figure 7: The sickness absence rate has been consistently higher for public sector employees","" "Sickness absence rate, by public and private sector, UK, 1995 to 2018 ","" "","" "Notes","" "Unit","%" "","" "Year","Public","Private" "1995","4.3","2.8" "1996","3.9","2.6" "1997","4.1","2.7" "1998","4.1","2.6" "1999","3.9","2.7" "2000","3.9","2.6" "2001","3.8","2.6" "2002","3.7","2.6" "2003","3.8","2.6" "2004","3.5","2.4" "2005","3.4","2.3" "2006","3.2","2.3" "2007","3.5","2.2" "2008","3.5","2.1" "2009","3.3","2.0" "2010","3.1","1.9" "2011","2.9","1.8" "2012","2.8","1.9" "2013","2.9","1.8" "2014","2.9","1.7" "2015","3.0","1.8" "2016","2.9","1.7" "2017","2.6","1.7" "2018","2.7","1.8"