The maximum duration of the working day in Spain is 40 hours of effective work per week. One of the objectives of the Spanish Ministry of Labor, led by the second vice president Yolanda Díaz, is reduce that number to 37.5 hours per week. According to the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), the agreement, if reached, would benefit some 13 million workers in Spain, although many collective agreements have fixed less than 40 hours per week.
In Spain it is common to compare ourselves with our continental neighbors, and politics tends to analyze the situation of other countries to use them as an example or as a model to avoid. In terms of work, Do we work in Spain more or less than the rest of the European countries?
According to the 2023 EU Labor Force Survey (LFS), collected by Eurostatthe average weekly work week in Europe is 36.1 hours, while in Spain it is 36.4. Our country works slightly above the European average. Turkey (44.2), Serbia (41.7) and Bosnia (41.4) are the countries that dedicate the most hours to work per week. If we focus on the European Union, the longest work weeks are found in Greece (39.8 hours), Romania (39.5), Poland (39.3) and Bulgaria (39.0).
On the other hand, the countries that work fewer hours per week are Netherlands (32.2), Austria (33.6), Germany (34) and Finland (34.8). By sector, the economic activities that recorded the longest working hours were agriculture, forestry and fishing (41.5 hours of work), mining (39.1) and construction (38.9). Those who worked the least were employers (26.7 hours), people in the education sector (31.9) and those in arts and entertainment (33).
EPA has used hours spent in work activities, including unpaid overtime, to analyze work time in each country. It does not have the periods of absence from work, such as sick leave, vacation or travel, nor the travel time between home and work.
Follow the Diario AS channel on WhatsAppwhere you will find all the sport in a single space: the current news of the day, the agenda with the latest news of the most important sporting events, the most outstanding images, the opinion of the best AS brands, reports, videos, and some humor from time to time.
