Spain is the largest EU economy with the longest working hours.

BrusselsIn Spain, people work longer hours than in the rest of the European Union and the eurozone countries. In the midst of the debate on the reduction of working hours in Spain, a report by Eurostat – the European Commission's statistical institute – published this Wednesday indicates that based on data from 2024, employees between the ages of 20 and 64 in Spain work 36.4 hours per week on average, four-tenths more than the overall average for the community bloc (which remains at 36 hours).

Spanish employees also work more hours per week than in other major European Union economies, such as Germany, France, and Italy. In Germany, the average weekly work week is less than 34 hours; in France, it is 35.8 hours; and in Italy, it is 36.1 hours. However, Spanish employees work fewer hours than in other southern European countries: in Greece, the average is almost 39.8 hours per week, and in Portugal, 37.5.

Similarly, in general, employees in Eastern European countries also work more hours than in Spain. For example, in Poland and Romania, employees average almost 39 hours per week, and in the Czech Republic, about 38 hours. They also work around 38 hours per week in Croatia and Slovenia. In contrast, in Serbia and Turkey, which are not part of the European Union, the number of hours rises to 41 and 43, respectively.

However, this number of hours contrasts with the averages recorded in Nordic countries. In Norway, for example, the figure is around 34 hours per week, and in Sweden and Finland it is around 35. They also work less than in Spain and in the European Union as a whole in countries such as Belgium, where the number of weekly hours is around 34 and a half, or in the Netherlands, where it is only 3.

It's worth noting that the number of weekly hours varies substantially depending on the professional sector. The sectors in which most work is done, by far, are farming and fishing, both in Spain and in the EU as a whole. In fact, it's the only sector where the average weekly average exceeds 40 hours. Just below this figure are miners and workers in the transport and construction sectors, who work around 38 hours per week. In contrast, education, healthcare, the arts, and administration are the sectors where the fewest hours are worked, averaging below 35.

One of the reasons cited by Raúl Ramos, professor of applied economics at the University of Barcelona (UB), for these differences in hours worked between Spain and the European average is due to "part-time work." However, Ramos notes that there isn't a great gap in hours worked between those recorded in Spain and in the rest of the EU countries.

On the other hand, the expert points out that in Spain people don't work longer hours because of the "trick" that "people are more unproductive," but rather the opposite: "The organization of working hours and long working days end up causing worker fatigue, which lowers productivity." Similarly, the UB professor points out that the high level of temporary employment in the State is also counterproductive to productivity, which means that "employers allocate fewer resources to training workers, and employees have less connection with companies."

Fewer virtual meetings than the European average

Companies across the European Union are increasingly reducing face-to-face meetings and opting to meet remotely. In Spain, the percentage of companies with more than ten employees that hold meetings via video calls is lower than the rate recorded in the overall community blog, according to another report published this Wednesday. 5, 9 are taking advantage of this technology to avoid unnecessary travel, while across the European Union this rate is slightly lower and stands at 52.9% , which is also reached by Denmark. In other Member States, such as Belgium or Germany, the rate is also particularly high and reaches 70% and 61%, on the contrary, in Hungary (33.52%) these percentages do not exceed 35%.