The new Eurostat figures reveal sharp differences in working hours across Europe.
According to the latest data on actual working hours from the bloc's statistics office, people at AB’ work an average of 35.9 hours per week. The figure covers full-time and part-time employees between the ages of 20 and 64 in their main jobs.
The data also reveal significant differences between countries, raising questions about why some Europeans work longer hours than others.
Balkan countries record longest working hours
Actual weekly working hours within the EU range from 31.9 hours in Netherlands’ to 39.6 hours in Greece’. When EU’ candidate countries and EFTA members are included, this figure increases to 42.4 hours in Turkey’. It is followed closely by two other candidate countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (40.9 hours) and Serbia (40.6 hours).
These are the only countries where average working hours exceed 40 hours per week; This is equivalent to more than eight hours a day in a five-day work week.
This is followed by Greece (39.6 hours), North Macedonia (39.5 hours) and Bulgaria (38.7 hours). The Balkan countries lead the list of longest working weeks, while Greece and Turkey are generally considered part of the wider Balkan region.
Professor David Spencer of the University of Leeds, ’, told Euronews Business’a: “In no country do workers choose the hours they will work ‘: Instead of ‘normal’ they work in an hour interval (the latter is under the influence of employers). Low productivity may explain the lack of labor power in addition to longer working hours in the above countries.”
Jorge Cabrita, senior research manager at Eurofound’, said differences in working time-setting regimes could help explain why some countries record longer working hours than others.
The Netherlands has the shortest working hours
The Netherlands stands out as the country with the shortest average working week in Europe ’, with people working only 31.9 hours per week.
Cabrita, Netherlands, where part-time employees have an approximate total employment in ’ %He said it made up 43’, which is much higher than other EU member states. The country also has one of the shortest average working weeks agreed collectively in the bloc.
Spencer told Euronews Business’a: “Dutch turned to more part-time work, which helped reduce the average work week; But the working week of full-time workers is still close to 40 hours.”
This is followed by Germany, Norway and Denmark with 33.9 hours; This means that workers in ’ in the Netherlands work about two hours less per week than workers in the nearest countries.
Average working hours are also below 35 hours per week in Austria (34.0), Belgium (34.3) and Finland’ (34.7). The average working day in these seven countries is less than seven hours in a five-day work week.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain work fewer hours than ’
With 33.9 hours, Germany records the shortest working week among AB’'s four largest economies. Workers in ’, Germany, France, work 1.7 hours less per week than those in ’ (35.6 hours).
Spain (36.3 hours) recorded the longest working week among the four major EU economies, while Italy (36.1 hours) was above the EU average of 35.9 hours. The difference between Germany and both countries exceeds two hours per week.
“, for example GermanyThe shortening of working hours at ’ partly reflects the strength of the unions and the positive impact of collective bargaining, ” said.
In other places, the average weekly working hours are Poland’da 38.7, Romania’da 38.2, Czechia’da 37.5, Hungary’da 37.4, Switzerland’da 35.9, Sweden’te 35.4 and Ireland’da 35.1’.
Why are working hours so variable?
In general, Northern and Western European countries tend to have shorter working weeks than Eastern and Central European countries.
Cabrita pointed out working time determination regimes, employment structures and wider economic structures as the main factors of the differences between countries.
The role of trade unions and collective bargaining
Cabrita said that countries where unions and collective bargaining play a larger role in determining working time limits tend to have shorter actual working hours.
He added that stronger collective bargaining is also associated with less overtime and greater compliance with labor regulations.
The impact of part-time and freelance work
Employment structure also plays an important role, including how workers are distributed according to occupations, sectors, employment status, and contract types.
The greater the share of part-time employment, the shorter the average working hours tend to be, Cabrita said.
Self-employed people, who often have more autonomy over their schedules, tend to work longer hours than employees, especially if they employ others.
Economic structure is also important. The relative weight of different sectors in an economy can affect average working hours because some industries often need longer work schedules than others.
Working hours vary significantly by industry
Skilled agricultural, forestry and fisheries workers Record the longest working weekAt AB’, 42 hours are followed by executive occupations (40.6 hours) and occupations in the armed forces (39.4 hours).
At the other end of the scale, workers in basic occupations recorded the shortest average work week at 31.8 hours, followed by office support workers (33.0 hours) and service and sales workers (34.5 hours).
