In 2023, the actual weekly working hours for people aged 20-64 in their main job, in the EU, averaged 36.1 hours.
A closer look at EU countries reveals notable differences. The longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (39.8 hours), Romania (39.5), Poland (39.3) and Bulgaria (39.0).
By contrast, the Netherlands had the shortest working week (32.2 hours), followed by Austria (33.6) and Germany (34.0).
Source dataset: lfsa_ewhais
This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article based on the data from the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS).
The economic activities recording the longest working week, in the EU, in 2023, were agriculture, forestry and fishing (41.5 actual working hours), mining and quarrying (39.1) and construction (38.9), whilst the shortest working weeks were recorded in activities of households as employers (26.7 hours), education (31.9) and arts, entertainment and recreation (33.0).