The average working week for EU citizens is 36 hours, but some countries have much higher rates. According to Eurostat, long hours are defined as 49 or more hours per week, which applies to 7.1% of the workforce in the EU. Greece, Cyprus, and France have the highest rates of long working hours within the EU. Self-employed individuals have a much higher percentage of working long hours compared to employees, with 29.3% of self-employed individuals working long hours compared to 3.6% of employees. Turkey has the highest rate of long working hours in all countries analyzed, at 27.2%, followed by Iceland at 13.8%.
Turkey also has the longest average working week at 44.2 hours, followed by Serbia at 41.7 hours, Bosnia-Herzegovina at 41.4 hours, and Greece at 39.8 hours. The average working week in the EU is 36.1 hours. Jobs with the longest working hours are typically in manual sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and fishing, mining and quarrying, and construction. These sectors have the longest working hours, with an average of 41.5, 39.1, and 38.9 hours per week, respectively. On the other hand, the countries with the shortest working weeks on average are the Netherlands at 32.2 hours, Austria at 33.6 hours, and Germany at 34 hours.
Long working hours are a norm for millions of people across the EU, with certain countries and sectors having higher rates compared to others. The differences in average working hours between countries can be significant, with Turkey having the highest rate of long working hours and the longest average working week. Self-employed individuals tend to work longer hours compared to employees, and jobs in manual sectors have the longest working hours on average. In contrast, countries with the shortest average working weeks are usually found in Western Europe. The variation in working hours across the EU reflects the diversity of work cultures and practices within the region.
