I'm not sure "average hours worked" is really a useful stat. At least I have trouble deriving any insight from it, it just mashes too many things into the same value. How much of the change is from the length of the typical work week (40h, 38h and 36h are all somewhat common work weeks for fulltime workers), how much is from part time work, and how much is from the mismatch between official work week and actual time worked (goes in either direction, some have 60h jobs on 40h pay)
What I'd really want to see is a histogram of weekly hours worked per worker for each country
This particular data doesn't show this. Just in case: I'm neither German nor Southern European, and I declare my neutrality.
For starters, it shows time spent at work. Meanwhile employees can do varying amount of work in the same amount of time. And I suppose that's what those Germans you referring to mean.
Second as the document notes: "The results are affected by the varying proportions of part-time workers across countries, in addition to differences in legal frameworks and in country-specific usual length of the workweek".
I read an article many years ago, by a man who was working 80 hour weeks. He analyzed his work and tried to optimize it.
Eventually he cut his working hours in half, while actually doubling his output, because the shorter work hours required him to actually focus.
He was, of course, self-employed, and could design his work week how he liked.
I guess that's important for another reason: if someone else had been paying him by the hour, he would have experienced a 50% pay cut. Instead, his income doubled, because it was based on the actual results.
That's the true South European spirit! So many problems in life would become easier reducing the working hours .
In Germany it's a common prejudice that people in southern Europe work less. Data shows otherwise: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/d...
I'm not sure "average hours worked" is really a useful stat. At least I have trouble deriving any insight from it, it just mashes too many things into the same value. How much of the change is from the length of the typical work week (40h, 38h and 36h are all somewhat common work weeks for fulltime workers), how much is from part time work, and how much is from the mismatch between official work week and actual time worked (goes in either direction, some have 60h jobs on 40h pay)
What I'd really want to see is a histogram of weekly hours worked per worker for each country
This particular data doesn't show this. Just in case: I'm neither German nor Southern European, and I declare my neutrality.
For starters, it shows time spent at work. Meanwhile employees can do varying amount of work in the same amount of time. And I suppose that's what those Germans you referring to mean.
Second as the document notes: "The results are affected by the varying proportions of part-time workers across countries, in addition to differences in legal frameworks and in country-specific usual length of the workweek".
I read an article many years ago, by a man who was working 80 hour weeks. He analyzed his work and tried to optimize it.
Eventually he cut his working hours in half, while actually doubling his output, because the shorter work hours required him to actually focus.
He was, of course, self-employed, and could design his work week how he liked.
I guess that's important for another reason: if someone else had been paying him by the hour, he would have experienced a 50% pay cut. Instead, his income doubled, because it was based on the actual results.
Funny you say that when Spain, Portugal, and Greece work more hours than Germany or the Netherlands.