PROGRAMS
- Transatlantic Relations
- International Security
- Asia
- Energy and Environment
- Young Atlanticist
- British-North American Committee
TOPICS
DONATE REGISTER
SHARE
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Propeller
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
'New Europe' Works Longer Hours than 'Old Europe'
James Joyner | September 05, 2008A study published this week by Dublin's Eurofound think tank finds that workers in eastern Europe work more hours and take less vacation than their counterparts to the west. A Der Spiegel synopsis notes that full-time workers in Romania and Bulgaria average 41.7 hours a week at work, compared to 41.1 hours for 6th ranked Germany. More generally, "the 15 pre-2004 members of the EU spend an average of 39. 5 hours a week on the job, while people in the 12 new member states work 40.6 hours on average. Of the top 10 countries, seven -- Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Hungary -- joined the EU after 2004." Workers in France put in the fewest hours, a mere 37.7 per week.
Swedes get the most vacation time, with 33 days per year paid time off compared to only 20 for the bottom-ranked Estonians.
