Irish work longer than most EU counterparts

IRISH people work the equivalent of six weeks a year longer then their French counterparts, according to a survey of the 27 EU member states.

The Irish working life is also much longer than the EU average — and with far greater numbers aged over 55 years still in full-time jobs.

The Irish also have a longer working week and the least number of public holidays annually among the 15 former member states, the European Foundation for Working and Living, a EU agency based in Dublin found.

There are just nine bank holidays a year in Ireland compared to the EU average of 10. Latvia has the most with 13, while Estonia has the least with just six.

The Irish also have just 20 days paid leave on average and when this is added to the nine bank holidays a year, Irish workers come close to the bottom of the EU scale. Only Hungary (28), Estonia and Latvia (27) have fewer days off a year.

Swedish workers have the longest annual holiday leave and days off at 42 — a full 13 days or two and half weeks more than the Irish. The Germans have 40 days a year free.

But Irish workers fare better when it comes to the number of hours a week they work. The agreed working week is 39 hours, but on average Irish workers do slightly less than this at 38.5, about an hour and a half less than the EU average.

This compares to the Latvians who put in an average of 42.1 hours a week — the longest in the EU, while the French at the other end of the scale work 37.6 hours.

But when the hours worked for a year are totalled for the year, the Irish work 1,809 — 241 less than the French, which is equivalent to 6.25 weeks per annum.

Most workers work longer hours than those agreed with their governments and trade unions. The average agreed in the EU is 38.7 a week but in practice the actual working week is 1.2 hours longer, at 39.9 hours.