Pretty interesting comparison of work hours

[Seth]

Business
Charts Showing Just How Much Americans Work Compared to the French, Germans and Chinese Are Very Interesting
Aug. 19, 2013 11:38am Liz Klimas



Americans like to think they work a lot, and new graphs released from the economic research division of the Federal Reserve Bank out of St. Louis now allow us to see just how true that is. The answer? It’s complicated.

The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) project has a nifty tool that allows you to combine graph data for the “average annual hours worked” by citizens in different countries.

The data is from the 4,542 international series from the University of Groningen’s Penn World Table 8.0, which includes GDP, productivity, household consumption, population levels and exchange rates for 167 countries.

According to the data, the average American works 1,703.55 annually, which is about 32.76 hours per week. This is significantly less than the peak of about about 1,920 hours annually from the 1950s.
us work hours

In 2011, the average American worked 1,703.55 annually. That’s about 32.76 hours per week. (Image: FRED)

These comparisons shows how the U.S. measures up against other countries.

Unites States vs. France (USA in red)
us france hours work

This graph shows that the French at one point worked many more hours a year than Americans, but in the 1980s Americans surpassed the French as they continued to cut back. As of 2011, the French worked 1,475.79 hours annually or 28.38 hours per week. (Image: FRED)

United States vs. United Kingdom (USA in red)
How Many Hours Americans Work Compared to Other Countries

The U.S. and the U.K. work a similar number of hours per year, although the U.S. still surpasses the U.K., which works 1,650.40 hours per year. (Image: FRED)

United States vs. Germany (USA in red)
How Many Hours Americans Work Compared to Other Countries

The U.S. exceeds hours worked by Germans, which is about 1,406.25304 hours annually. (Image: FRED)

United States vs. Netherlands (USA in red)
How Many Hours Americans Work Compared to Other Countries

Those in the Netherlands work an average of 1,381.78 hours annually. (Image: FRED)

Although the U.S. workforce puts in more hours than many other countries, it is by no means the hardest working. Many eastern countries, as one might expect, are among those that match or surpass U.S. workers.

United States vs. Japan (USA in blue)
How Many Hours Americans Work Compared to Other Countries

The Japanese work about the same number of hours as Americans at 1,706.25 per year. (Image: FRED)

United States vs. Canada (USA in blue)
How Many Hours Americans Work Compared to Other Countries

Canadians have a similar measure up as well with 1,707.88 hours annually. (Image: FRED)

United States vs. Province of China Taiwan (USA in blue)
How Many Hours Americans Work Compared to Other Countries

Those in the China’s Taiwan province work an average of 2,144.40 hours annually. That’s a 41.24 work week. (Image: FRED)

United States vs. Singapore (USA in blue)
us singapore hours worked

Workers in Singapore put in an average of 2,287.20 hours annually. (Image: FRED)

And to shake things up even more, Business Insider pulled together the U.S. (blue), France (red), Germany (green), Singapore (maroon), Korea (orange) and Hong Kong (purple) into one graph.
countries hours worked annually

It’s clear what area of the world works the most hours annually based on this graph which pulls together the U.S., several European and Asian countries. (Image: FRED via Business Insider)

Are you surprised?

[Jason]

Unless it accounts and discounts unemployed persons of working age, then no not really. I worked 50-60 hour weeks for 4 years, not counting moonlighting which would probably bump it up to 55-65 on average.

[cronus]

Only fools and horses....it ain't the hours you put in. If it was hours alone the Greeks would be wealthier than the Germans.

[Cormac]

Does this analysis delve into quality of work done while "at work"?

In my experience, where the working culture drives people to start earlier and earlier, and finish later and later, the quality of work produce drops significantly, along with any corps d'esprit - which degrades the quality of cooperation and coordination in the workplace.

[mistermack]

Pretty fucked-up comparison.

What genius decided to start with the USA as the blue line, then change it to the red line, and then back to the blue line again?

Even school kids could do better than that.

[Tero]

How many kilowatt-hours that?

[MrJonno]

Not quite sure what the point is, as societies advance I would hope people would work less and have more leisure time. If that isn't true that what is the point of progress at all

Life should be about maximising benefit while minimising the effort to get it (screw the protestant work ethic that's just for masochists).

In UK and most 1st world countries people work 8 hours out of 24, 5 days out of 7 , 45 weeks out of 52 and lets face it , its way too much

[klr]

Drat! Why is the USA reds in some graphs, and blue in another?

[mistermack]

Drat! Why is the USA reds in some graphs, and blue in another?

L8

[klr]

Drat! Why is the USA reds in some graphs, and blue in another?

L8

I had a busy day at work ... yes, that's it.

[Jason]

Does this analysis delve into quality of work done while "at work"?

In my experience, where the working culture drives people to start earlier and earlier, and finish later and later, the quality of work produce drops significantly, along with any corps d'esprit - which degrades the quality of cooperation and coordination in the workplace.

That's true for most people. Morale drops and people begin to hate their job and especially their bosses. Personally, I just liked all the money I was making and I was very good at my job. I had a contempt for my bosses because I thought they were incompetent, but that's about it.

[klr]

Does this analysis delve into quality of work done while "at work"?

In my experience, where the working culture drives people to start earlier and earlier, and finish later and later, the quality of work produce drops significantly, along with any corps d'esprit - which degrades the quality of cooperation and coordination in the workplace.

No, because it's extremely difficult to do this in many cases.

Of course, most organisations will claim - when asked - that working efficiency (along with most other metrics) is better than it used to be, without ever providing a shred of credible evidence to support the claim.

[Cormac]

Does this analysis delve into quality of work done while "at work"?

In my experience, where the working culture drives people to start earlier and earlier, and finish later and later, the quality of work produce drops significantly, along with any corps d'esprit - which degrades the quality of cooperation and coordination in the workplace.

That's true for most people. Morale drops and people begin to hate their job and especially their bosses. Personally, I just liked all the money I was making and I was very good at my job. I had a contempt for my bosses because I thought they were incompetent, but that's about it.

Of course, many (most) jobs don't offer overtime for work outside core hours...

[klr]

Does this analysis delve into quality of work done while "at work"?

In my experience, where the working culture drives people to start earlier and earlier, and finish later and later, the quality of work produce drops significantly, along with any corps d'esprit - which degrades the quality of cooperation and coordination in the workplace.

That's true for most people. Morale drops and people begin to hate their job and especially their bosses. Personally, I just liked all the money I was making and I was very good at my job. I had a contempt for my bosses because I thought they were incompetent, but that's about it.

Of course, many (most) jobs don't offer overtime for work outside core hours...

I wonder if that's even accounted for in many of these studies?

[SteveB]

Terrible name for an article..."very interesting." Come on!

Terrible labels too.