Greeks work the longest hours among the EU states. Photo of the Parliament building. Credit: Gerard McGovern CC BY 2.0
Data released from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, say that in 2024 Greeks worked the longest hours – whether they work full time or part time – compared to employees of all other European Union member states.
After Greece comes Cyprus with 10.0 hours per week. According to the European Union statistical authority, in 2024, 6.6 percent of employed people aged 20 to 64 in the EU worked long hours, defined as usually spending 49 hours or more per week in their main job. This share of workers with long hours has decreased over time, down from 9.8 percent in 2014 and 8.4 percent in 2019.
Among the EU countries, Greece had the highest share of workers working long hours (12.4 percent), followed by Cyprus (10.0 percent) and France (9.9 percent). In contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria (0.4 percent), Latvia (1.0 percent) and Lithuania (1.4 percent).
The share of self-employed people who worked long hours (27.5 percent of total self-employed people) was higher than that of employees (3.4 percent 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 percent of all employed people in that occupation group) and managers (21.1 percent).
Greek workers work an average 39.8 hours per week, more than their European colleagues, while 25 percent of those employed work more than 45 hours per week, the highest percentage in the EU.
Average working time in Europe is 36 hours per week
According to the EU Labor Force Survey, as well as Eurostat’s annual statistics for 2024, the average weekly working time was 36 hours. A large variation and difference was observed between the EU countries. Indicatively, in the Netherlands the actual working hours were 32.1, while in Greece 39.8.
This difference (7.7 hours) amounts to almost one extra day of eight-hour work per week for those working in Greece compared to those working in the Netherlands, and combined with wage differences, exacerbates the differences between EU countries.
In the EU in 2024, 37.3 percent of employees worked an average of between 40 and 44.5 hours per week, while only 7.2 percent recorded fewer than 20 actual hours of work per week in their main job. The range of 40-44.5 actual hours of work represented the largest share in most countries, with a few exceptions, such as Ireland, Finland, Belgium, France and Denmark, where the largest share of employees worked 35-39.5 hours per week.
In Greece, on the contrary, a percentage of around 25 percent, the largest in Europe, works 45 hours or more in their main job.