In the United States, people take a mean of 5.2 sick days per year. This number includes 1.3 days taken off to care for a sick family member and 3.9 days taken off because the worker was sick. This number shows how many workers have paid sick leave.
Workers who don’t have paid sick leave tend to only take three sick days a year on average. People who work in the restaurant and retail industries, for example, may not have paid sick leave. It has been found that these workers are 1.5 times more likely to go to work sick than workers who get paid sick leave.