Working hours in Bulgaria slightly above EU average
Working hours for full-time employees in Bulgaria, at 40.9 hours a week, were slightly above the averages for the European Union and for the euro zone, going by statistics from EU statistics agency Eurostat’s labour force survey for 2011, released on October 5 2012.
In the EU, the average working hours for full-time employees was 40.4 hours and in the 17-member euro zone, of which Bulgaria is not a member, the average weekly total was 40 hours.
In line with trends across the EU bloc, men in Bulgaria worked longer hours (41) than women (40.8).
Across the EU, weekly working hours for full-time employees ranged between 37.7 hours in Denmark to 42.2 hours in the United Kingdom, Eurostat said.
On average in the EU27, employees working full-time usually worked 40.4 hours a week in 2011, with women averaging 39.3 hours and men 41.1 hours.
The longest weekly working hours for full-time employees were in the UK (42.2 hours), Austria (41.8), Cyprus and Portugal (both 41.1), and the shortest in Denmark (37.7), Ireland (38.4), Italy (38.8) and the Netherlands (39.0). In all EU member states, men had longer working hours than women among full-time employees.
According to Eurostat’s labour force survey, in Bulgaria 6.8 per cent of employees were in the agricultural sector, 31.8 per cent in industry, including construction; 39 per cent in markets (a category that includes, for example, the wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation and food services, communication, financial, insurance and real estate sectors); and 22.5 per cent in “non-market services”, meaning public administration, education, health, arts, entertainment and recreation.
(Illustration: Ilker/sxc.hu)
