In 2024, 6.6% of employed people aged 20 to 64 in the EU worked long hours, defined as usually spending 49 hours or more weekly in their main job. This share of workers with long hours has decreased over time, down from 9.8% in 2014 and 8.4% in 2019.
Among the EU countries, Greece had the highest share of workers with long hours (12.4%), followed by Cyprus (10.0%) and France (9.9%). In contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria (0.4%), Latvia (1.0%) and Lithuania (1.4%).
The share of self-employed people who worked long hours (27.5% of total self-employed people) was higher than that of employees (3.4% of total employees).
Out of all occupational groups, as defined by the international standard classification of occupations (ISCO), long working hours were most common among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (26.2% of all employed people in that occupation group) and managers (21.1%).
Source: Eurostat
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