Irish workers have longest hours in EU

IT'S official - we're the hardest workers in the EU. Ireland now tops the EU league for the percentage of its labour force working up to 80 hours a week, more than double the average 37.4-hour week.

Over 17% of the workforce say they spend between one and two hours a day commuting to and from their job while another 3.6% spend longer than two hours on the road. This is among the highest in the EU, where the average journey time is 38 minutes.

The figures have prompted the director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions, Willy Buschak, to warn that changes need to be made to reduce the increasing stress workers are under.