If France has one of the lowest employment rates in Europe, people who work do not count their hours. This is clear from a study published this Monday by Eurostat that measured the rates of “very heavy workers” in the different countries of the European Union. These are employed workers between the ages of 15 and 64 who work 49 hours or more a week, including overtime.
According to these data compiled by Eurostat, France is after Greece the country with the highest proportion of workers who work more than 49 hours a week. While the average is 7.3% in the EU, this proportion is 10.2% in France. Only Greece has a higher rate (12.6%). Above all, France is one of the few countries where this rate increased in 2022 and then went from 10 to 10.2%, while it fell slightly on average across the EU as a whole.
It is mainly in Latin countries where the proportion of heavy workers is highest. Cyprus (9.7%), Italy (9.4%) and Portugal (9.4%) are the countries after France with the highest proportions. By contrast, northern European countries have fewer working people. The rates are 6% in Finland and Germany, 5.8% in the Netherlands, 5.6% in Denmark and 4.9% in Norway.
6.3% of French employees more than 49 hours
It is business leaders (not subject to working time regulations) who are by far among the workers who work more than 49 hours per week. The proportion thus rises to 57.1% in France, ie the highest proportion in Europe after Belgium (59.4%). There are significant differences with other EU countries. In Germany they are 46% of business leaders in this case, 45.8% in Italy, 37.8% in Spain or 33.2% in Portugal.
If French bosses don’t count their hours, French employees are also among those with the highest rate of heavy laborers in Europe. As a reminder, legislation in Europe limits the maximum working hours of employees to 48 hours per week, including overtime. However, 6.3% of French employees work 49 hours or more. This places them above the European average (3.8%) as well as the majority of countries with the exception of Cyprus and Portugal.
These workers who exceed the legal working day are by shift, a system that allows employers to remunerate workers based on a number of shifts worked annually and without weekly reference. These are mainly executives who are therefore not subject to the maximum durations of 48 hours per week or 10 hours per day.
Source: BFM TV
