Irish have one of the longest working years

IRISH employees have one of the longest-working years in the European Union, despite having one of the shortest working weeks.

The figures, from the EU’s Dublin-based agency, Eurofound, show that the longest working hours are in the central and eastern European member states.

Based on the average working week, annual leave and bank holidays, Irish employees spent an average of 1,801 hours at work last year.

This is very close to the average for the new 12 member states, but 105 hours – close to two-and-a-half weeks – more than the average working week for the 15 old member states.

However, compared with the French, who have the shortest working week in the union and worked an average of 1,607 hours each last year, the Irish worked almost five weeks a year more at 1,801 hours.

These figures are based on the average collectively agreed annual working hours in 2007, which the report says is a more accurate measure of real working time that the statutory figures.

The big difference between Ireland and France is because the French have a 35-hour working week (39 for Ireland), 11 public holidays (9 in Ireland) and 25 days annual leave (24 in Ireland).

Ireland is the only country in the EU where the actual number of hours worked each week – 38.9 – is less than the statutory agreed working week of 39 hours. It is also less than the EU average of 40.4 hours.

The survey looked at the working hours of three groups of employees – metalworkers, bankers and local government.

It found that they worked on average very similar hours, with metalworkers working about 30 minutes a week more.

However, in Ireland metalworkers and bankers worked longer than the average worker at 39 hours a week, while those in local government had a comparatively short 37-hour week.

Irish law favours workers less than the law in other countries as far as putting limits on the number of hours a week that can be worked – 48 in Ireland compared to 38 in Belgium.

There is no explicit maximum number of hours that an employee can be asked to work in a day in just four countries – Ireland, Italy, Britain and Cyprus. The report says that since the EU directive specifies an 11-hour rest period, the maximum working day can be no longer than 13 hours.

The figures are contained in the latest report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Eurofound). Based in Dublin, this EU agency’s role is to provide data, expertise and advice for social policymaking in the EU.