In 2024, 6.6% of those employed in the EU worked 49 or more hours a week

According to the latest Eurostat data, in 2024, 6.6% of employed people aged 20 to 64 in the European Union will work 49 hours or more a week in their main job. This is a serious reduction from 2014, when almost 10% of workers had such a regime. In 2019, the share was 8.4%, confirming a steady downward trend in the length of the working week in certain social groups.

Among EU countries, Greece ranks first in terms of the proportion of workers with excessively long weeks, with 12.4% of all employed workers working 49 hours or more. It is followed by Cyprus (10.0%) and France (9.9%). These are countries with a strong share of self-employed and family businesses, where 'normalised' working hours often remain on paper. In the case of France, this is a reflection of the high pressure on managerial and professional staff.

At the other pole is Bulgaria, where only 0.4% of workers are covered by recycling. The situation is similar in Latvia (1.0%) and Lithuania (1.4%). These figures may reflect both effective labour legislation and peculiarities of the employment structure, such as the predominance of the public sector or areas with clearly defined working time standards.

One of the main differences was found between the self-employed and employees: 27.5% of the self-employed work 49 hours or more, while among employees this figure is only 3.4%. This underlines the high level of burden on entrepreneurs, farmers, small business owners - those who are directly dependent on their own labour.

The largest share of overtime is observed in agriculture, forestry and fishing - 26.2% of workers in these industries have a long working week. Managers are next with 21.1%, which is not surprising given their responsibility, lack of a clear schedule and the regular need to be "on call" outside of standard working hours.

According to the Eurostat standard, a long working week is defined as 49 hours or more in the main job. This calculation includes all hours, including paid and unpaid overtime, but excludes lunch breaks and travelling to the office. Thus, the study focuses on the actual hours worked.