Today we bring you the list of 11 Countries with Longest Work Hours. A successful economy can’t sustain itself without hard working people who give their best to achieve the results. Companies worldwide always appreciate results and hard work. The main goal is to improve productivity and sustain energy working on a project. In our list of 10 hardest working countries we demonstrate the hardest working societies who prosper on an everyday basis.
Today we continue to explore the hardest working and most successful countries. Here are the 11 countries with longest work hours, ranked by average hours worked annually.
11. Japan
Long-hour shifts are common practice in Japan; from ancient times the principle of Kaizen advocates “work and improve every day”. This country has the least unemployed individuals. Japan’s high lifespan and quality of life are achieved by hard work; Japanese people work around 1,765 hours a year. This number decreased in last few years, as the new generations tend to work less.
10. Hungary
More than 70% of Hungarians work over 70 hours a week; this is common in the Central European region, and Hungary is not different. A high percentage of the population in Hungary has hard-working habits since there is a high rate of unemployment; those who have jobs, work hard to keep them. Average annual working hours in Hungary – 1,797. Trade unions and worker communities are strong in the country, fighting for the rights of the workers, better conditions, and higher wages.
9. Slovak Republic
After achieving independence from The Soviet Union, Slovakian people kept hardworking habits and practices of doing business and organization. Motivated to rebuild the economy, Slovaks worked hard; car manufacturing, electrical engineering and many other industries started to bloom from the effort invested. Slovaks work around 1,786 hours a year.
8. Turkey
Turkey has most workers that work longer shifts in almost whole Europe. Almost more than half of employed population works more then 50-hour a week. In general, this work ethic impacted the life satisfaction in Turkey; people are unhappy when working so long and so hard. The other half of population is divided: unemployed, and part-time employed individuals. This makes the result of average 1,877 working hours a year in Turkey.
7. Poland
An average employee in Poland has standard 40-hour workweek; 10% are “workaholics” and they spend over 50 hours a week putting effort into professional and business growth. Even though every Polak will tell you that Polish citizens are generally lazy people, the facts claim the opposite. Polish workers emigrated to UK and Netherlands and made the reputation of hard working and skilled employees. They work 1,893 hours a year.
6. Russian Federation
Laws prohibit the longer workweeks in Russia, with strict penalties for breaking them. A lot of workers who have immigrated to the country and came to Russia for abroad working contracts have the possibility of extended working hours that are paid extra. Many foreigners put this to their advantage, and work the hardest to earn benefits. Combined average annual hours of work in Russia – 2002 per year.
5. Estonia
With a reputation of hard workers, Estonians work 2,021 hours each year. This is 252 working days for an average worker in Estonia. Unemployment is the major problem of the Estonian economy and authorities try their best to provide more jobs for their citizens. The effort is slowly paying off, last years the situation started looking better.
4. Greece
Greek people work a lot; an average working week for employees in Greece lasts for 42,5 hours. Since recent financial crash and problems with the international monetary foundation, Greeks are forced to put extra effort to set their economy on the right path, averaging 2,033 hours of work a year. They rely on tourism a lot and keep improving their services to repair the economy.
3. Chile
Our list of countries with longest work hours doesn’t include America, despite of its economic power and stability. Our #3 is Chile, a country where 16% of people work more than 50 hours weekly. Underprivileged parts of society in Chile are forced to endure 2,102 hours of yearly work, with annual wages of only $2,400 a year.
2. South Korea
South Korea society is traditionally organized, following principles from the old times, when women didn’t have the rights to work and provide for the family. With many women unemployed, men literally do all the work. Average time men spends at work annually is 2,193 hours. In recent years, the society has shown some progress on the topic of women rights and labor.
1. Mexico
The average workweek in Mexico lasts 45 hours. Mexican employee works over 500 hours more than average American, with amazing 2,317 working hours a year, earning a definite first place of our list of countries with longest work hours. People in Mexico work low-paid jobs; only one-third of working population has obtained an equivalent of a high school diploma.
