French workers clock-up less hours per year than EU average: report

A new study has found that working hours in France are significantly shorter than most European countries, especially when compared with northern EU nations such as Germany. 

Annual working hours are shorter in France than in most European countries, especially for full-time employees, according to a study published the Rexecode Institute, based on European statistics. AP - Elise Amendola

According to a study published on Wednesday by the Rexecode Institute, annual working hours are shorter in France than in most European countries. 

The average annual working time – declared by full-time employees surveyed by Eurostat's Labour Force Survey – is 1,668 hours, compared with a European average of 1,792 hours.

According to the survey, a full-time employee in France works 65 hours less than in Spain, 122 hours less than in Germany and 162 hours less than in Italy.

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Rexecode has pointed out that these gaps have been fairly stable since 2005, except for the discrepancies with Germany, where the annual duration of working hours fell between 2006 and 2019, while remaining well above working hours in France.

A third of the three-week difference between French and German full-time employees can be explained by the one-hour shorter working week in France, almost a third by sick leave – 2.1 weeks in France compared with 1.2 in Germany – and the remainder by holidays.

La durée du #travail en #France et en #Europe en 2022
La durée annuelle effective du travail des salariés français à temps complet reste +basse que dans les autres pays de l'UE hors Finlande d’après les calculs @od2ole réalisés sur les données @EU_Eurostathttps://t.co/xiiyRsXIdU

— Rexecode (@Rexecode) December 6, 2023

More full-time jobs in France

However, the effective working time of all employees, including part-time workers, is slightly higher in France than in Germany, where the proportion of full-time employees is higher than in Germany and countries across Northern Europe.

The figure is 1,550 hours in France, compared with 1,529 hours in Germany, with Spain coming in at 1,615 hours and Italy on 1,685 hours. 

Part-time employees also work an average of 971 hours a year in France, which represents 58 percent of a full-time job, compared to 923 hours in Germany at 52 percent of a full-time job.

Olivier Redoulès, Director of Research at Rexecode says the slightly longer working week for all categories of employees in France "coexists with a lower employment rate" and "part-time work is more involuntary than in other countries".