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.

A survey carried out for the Dublin-based foundation shows more than one-in-10 employees - 10.8% - work 60 to 80 hours a week. This compares to just 2.9% in 1990.

The EU-15 average for the number of people working such long hours is 5.9% and Ireland tops the list in this category.

Almost a fifth of workers, or 18.2%, work 45 to 59 hours a week, compared to an EU average of 14%.

About 40% of employees reported regularly working more than 10 hours a day compared to just 13% in 1992. Almost one in 10 said they work over 10 hours a day at least five times a month - the highest percentage in the EU.

More Irish employees work split shifts than in any of the old EU's 15 states, with 14.8% reporting they have a break of at least four hours in the middle of their working time.

One in 10 reported they work every Sunday, while over 30% said they worked some Sundays. Only the Greeks work more Sundays.

The Irish, with 20 days' paid holidays a year, get the least in the EU, where the average is 26.

However, Irish workers tend to be the most content. Almost two-thirds said they would not change their hours and almost half said their hours fit with family and social commitments.

Mr Buschak said over the past decade work intensity had risen sharply and showed no signs of slowing.

"It is true that most people work shorter hours but they work faster, giving rise to the situation where over half the workers in Europe are working at high speed and to tight deadlines during at least one-quarter of their working time," he said.

Mr Buschak said their research shows a new organisation of working time over the entire life course is necessary, if Europe is to meet the challenges of an ageing society and of increased competition in the global market.