Annual survey reveals few changes in working time across Europe

The annual survey of negotiated working time by the EIRO industrial relations observatory reveals few changes in working time across the European Union. Perhaps surprisingly it makes no reference to developments in Germany where ver.di has managed to resist employer attempts to impose longer working hours on all public sector workers. In fact, the survey notes a 0.1-hour increase for Germany as a whole as a result of increases in Eastern Germany. The only other change at country level was a small decrease in negotiated hours in Portugal. The survey monitors hours in six sectors and finds that

The latest biennial report from the Eurofound research agency finds that there have not been any significant developments in working time across Europe. The average working week remains at 38 hours. Public administration is one of the specific sectors analysed where weekly hours averaged 37.6 in both 2018 and 2017. The report noted some specific sector developments with particularly negative legislation passed in Hungary affecting public administration allowing for longer hours and more flexibility. More positive agreements were noted in Estonia (health) and Greece (local government and waste)

In 2013, the average collective agreed weekly working time in the European Union was 38.1 hours, the same as in 2012, according to the latest annual survey by the EIRO industrial relations observatory. The survey examined three sectors in detail and the civil service sector again recorded the shortest average agreed normal working week at 38 hours – although this represents an increase of 0.2 hours compared with 2012. There was a small decrease in working hours in the sector in Sweden while the government in Portugal imposed a five-hour increase from 35 to 40 hours although this is being