Republic’s workers put in fewer hours than EU peers

IRELAND’S reputation as one of the most industrious nations in the EU is under threat as eastern Europeans are putting in two hours more labour per week than Irish workers.

Despite having some of the fewest public holidays and shortest annual leave of any EU workers, Irish employees still work less than most European workers, according to a study.

The annual report by the EU on working time across Europe shows Irish workers are only ranked 22nd out of 27 EU member states in terms of the number of hours worked each week.

The study, by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, which is based in Dublin, shows full-time employees in Ireland worked an average of 38.9 hours per week in 2007. Only workers from Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and France worked a shorter week, while the EU average is 40 hours.

In contrast, workers in Britain have the third longest working week in the EU with an average of 41.4 hours, coming after Bulgaria and Romania (41.7 hours each). The results shows the Irish labour force works just below the average working week based on agreements between the Government and social partners on working hours.

Under such agreements, the average working week is 39 hours — although the report shows that in reality the actual working week is just shorter by 0.1 hours.

The report highlights the substantial gap in working time between the original EU 15 member states and the 12 accession states, mostly countries in eastern Europe.

Nine of the 12 accession states, as well as Greece, average a 40-hour working week. However, the Irish labour force remains among the most industrious in western Europe, working 1.1 hours more per week than the average of the EU-15 countries.

Although French president Nicolas Sarkozy is attempting to alter labour agreements, French workers still have the shortest working week of any Europeans at just 35 hours.

The foundation stressed figures were strongly influenced by the number of paid holidays to which workers were entitled.

However, no figures on the average number of annual holidays taken by Irish workers are available because of the lack of any fixed agreements on leave entitlement.