Industries with most absences revealed

NEW RESEARCH reveals the industries taking the most sick days, with transport workers topping the list, and healthcare staff not far behind.

People working in the transport and storage sector recorded a collective 10.6 million sick days in 2025 – the equivalent of 6.5 days off per employee.

Coming in a narrow second are health and social workers, who registered 29.4 million sick days, the most of any sector, equating to 6 days per employee. Given their frontline status at hospitals, care homes and clinics across the UK, health and social workers continue to feel the strain, suffering from stress, exhaustion and burnout.

Workers from the mining, energy and water sector came in third, requesting an average of 5.5 days off per employee, and amassing 3.1 million days off across the past 12 months.

“These figures really highlight just how relentless the past year has been for people in demanding roles, particularly those within the transport and healthcare sectors,” said Richard Stockley, managing director at RRC International.

“These are essential jobs that come with long hours, high stress, and immense responsibility. It’s vital that employers step up to support their staff’s health and wellbeing, especially in sectors where burnout and exhaustion are all too common.”

At the other end of the scale, some industries saw very little time off. Agriculture, forestry and fishing had the joint fewest sick days taken, at 2.4 days, with just 700,000 sick days taken. This was tied with real estate workers who clocked up 1 million requests at 2.4 days per worker too.

Richard continues: “The roles that record the least sick days tend to be lone workers or people who are part of dispersed teams. There tends to be less human to human interaction or have the majority of operations outside. Of course, this is not a luxury that the majority of UK workers can afford, so employers need to fully address this issue, with mental and physical health training and policy changes ranking highly.”

In total, 148.3 million working days were lost across all industries in the last year, a reminder that sickness absence continues to hit UK businesses hard.

Employee sick days taken / total sick days taken by industry

• Transport and storage – 6.5 days / 10.6M
• Human health & social work activities – 6 days / 29.4M
• Mining, energy and water supply – 5.5 days / 3.1M
• Manufacturing – 5.3 days / 14.4M
• Public admin & defence; social security – 5.1 days / 13.3M
• Education – 4.6 days / 16.4M
• Accommodation & food services – 4 days / 6.8M
• Wholesale, retail & repair of motor vehicles – 3.9 days / 13.7M
• Other services – 3.8 days / 6.8M
• Construction – 3.7 days / 7.7M
• Administration & support services – 3.7 days / 5.5M
• Financial & insurance activities – 3.3 days / 4.8M
• Information & communication – 3.1 days / 5.1M
• Professional, scientific & technical activities – 3.1 days / 9M
• Real estate activities – 2.4 days / 1M
• Agriculture, forestry & fishing – 2.4 days / 700,000

Find out more about RRC International.