Poland records longest annual working hours in the EU in 2020
Employees in Poland are working 1,848 hours per year, the highest annual working hours figure (alongside Hungary) across the EU. The shortest hours are found in Germany (1,574 hours), France (1,610 hours), and Denmark (1,635 hours). These figures are part of Eurofound’s Working time in 2019-2020 report, which documents the most relevant changes in working time regulation after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, including short-time working schemes, and approaches to telework for those able to work from home.
While collective bargaining does not play a substantial role in determining working time standards in Poland, it is a common practice in those countries reporting lower annual working hours. The report shows that in 2020, workers in Poland working the average collectively agreed normal working time would have worked approximately 274 hours more than their counterparts in Germany. This is equivalent to nearly 7 weeks of work in Poland.
However, it should be noted that Poland lost 0.4 million temporary contracts or more in the last three quarters of 2020 and is one of five countries (with France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain), whose decline in temporary employment between 2019 and 2020 accounted for 60% of total losses in temporary employment in the EU in 2020.
(WBJ)
