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EUROPE AGREES ON ONE THING: AUGUST IS OFF

Submitted by christian on Tue, 08/13/2013 - 12:48

Just now, almost anywhere with sand, surf, and sun is wildly overcrowded, overpolluted, and overpriced. After all, almost 80 million Europeans are on August vacation.

No wonder Europe is having a hard time competing with the rest of the world.  Working less and producing less surely must have something to do with Europe’s economic plight and the sad news that about 25 million Europeans now are more or less permanently on vacation.

Here below is the List of the Average Annual Hours actually worked per worker in the EU (OECD- 2012)

  1. Greece: 2,034
  2. Poland: 1,929
  3. Estonia: 1,889
  4. Hungary: 1,888
  5. Czech Rep: 1,800
  6. Slovak Republic: 1,785
  7. Italy: 1,752
  8. Austria: 1,699
  9. Portugal: 1,691
  10. Spain: 1,686
  11. Finland: 1,672
  12. United Kingdom: 1,654
  13. Slovenia: 1,640
  14. Sweden: 1,621
  15. Luxembourg: 1,609
  16. Belgium: 1,574
  17. Denmark: 1,546
  18. Ireland: 1,529
  19. France: 1,479
  20. Germany: 1,397
  21. Netherlands: 1,381

The low number of part-time workers account for the fact that the average annual hours worked per year is high for some countries. Total employment is substantially affected by other effects as well.

The number of hours worked every year, and the way in which work is organised, are issues of central concern and interest to both employees and employers. In the case of employees, working hours have a direct bearing on standard of living, level of work–life balance and the overall sustainability of working life. For employers, working time is a key element in the calculation of costs, productivity and competitiveness. Working time, and its regulation, is likewise an important policy issue for national governments.

Summary

Group 1: countries with the longest average annual working hours (1,900 hours or more) include Greece, Poland.

Group 2: countries with above average annual working hours (1,800–1,900 hours) include Estonia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Romania.

Group 3: countries with average annual working hours (1,600–,1,800 hours) include Slovakia, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Finland, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Sweden, Luxembourg, Malta, Bulgaria.

Group 4: countries with below average annual working hours (1,500–1,600 hours) include Belgium, Denmark, Ireland.

Group 5: countries with the shortest annual working hours (below 1,500 hours) include France , Germany and the Netherlands.

 

 

 

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