British men work the most hours of EU nations
BRITISH men work the longest hours in Europe, clocking up almost 44 hours a week, research shows today.
Male full-time employees in the UK worked 43.7 hours a week in 2011 – the latest year for which figures are available – more than two hours longer than the European average of 41.1 hours.
But when all workers – women, the self-employed and part-timers – are included in the calculations, Britain’s average working week (36.4 hours) ranks 23rd out of the 27 EU countries and below the norm of 37.4 hours.
The European country with the longest overall working week is Greece (42.1 hours) while the Dutch enjoy the shortest (30.5 hours).
The figures come from analysis of employment data by economist Professor Francis Green of the Institute of Education, University of London.
He said: “The data suggests there has been a slow but steady decrease in the length of the UK working week from the mid-1990s through to the start of the present economic troubles.”
Professor Green also found that salaries in the UK are the most unequal in the EU and it is easier to fire staff here than in any of the other leading developed nations apart from the US and Canada.