Greeks: Toiling All Year Long?
Why do Greek workers have to work such long hours to stay afloat?
December 31, 2015
1. Greek workers put in an average of 2,042 hours at work over the course of 2014.
2. That was the fourth-highest total number of hours worked annually among 38 developed or near-developed countries studied by the OECD. (Mexico, Costa Rica, South Korea earned the top three spots respectively)
3. Based on a typical 40-hour workweek, Greeks spend the equivalent of just over 51 weeks — out of 52 in a year — at work.
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4. In reality, however, the average full-time job in Greece involves 44.8 hours per week.
5. The average part-time job in the country is 19.4 hours per week — the second-highest number among the OECD’s 21 European Union members.
6. In addition, Greece’s economic structure relies heavily on many small business operators, many of whom, even before the onset of the current severe economic crisis, worked long days just to stay solvent.
7. However, such long working days can be a reflection of low productivity (that is, the economic output generated by each worker). In such environments, people must work many hours to make ends meet.
8. Low productivity can be attributed to a lack of investment in capital goods and also reflect a heavy reliance on domestic goods and services with a low level of value-added.
9. Each Greek worker in 2014 added just $35.90 to the national GDP for each hour worked annually.
10. By comparison, the average for the 34 OECD countries was $49.00 generated per hour. And the average for the 19 eurozone member nations (of which Greece is one) was $56.00.
Sources: OECD and The Globalist Research Center