29% of employed persons in the EU aged 20 to 34 years ('young employed') usually work on weekends, according to a 2016 survey.
The lowest proportion of young employed who work on weekends is among persons with tertiary education (20%). However, those with tertiary education are also most likely to work long hours, defined as 49 hours or more per week (8%).
Almost 1 in 2 young employed in Greece work on weekends
lmost half of young employed in Greece (47%) reported working on weekends in 2016. More than a third of young employed in Italy regularly worked on weekends (40%), closely followed by Ireland (38%), Cyprus and the Netherlands (both 36%), Spain (35%) and the United Kingdom (34%).
By contrast, Hungary recorded the lowest proportion of young employed working on weekends (11%), followed by Portugal (12%), Poland (13%), the Czech Republic and Croatia (both 18%).
The source datasets can be accessed here and here.
Young employed with tertiary education least likely to work on weekends
At EU level, young employed with a low level of education (lower secondary or below) are most likely to work on weekends (37%), followed by those with a medium level of education, defined as upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education (33%). There are only minor differences between those with medium level general qualifications and those with medium level vocational qualifications.
The lowest proportion of young employed who work on weekends is among those with tertiary education (20%).
Young employed with tertiary education were least likely to work on weekends in all EU Member States except Portugal.
The information presented in this article is based on the 2016 ad-hoc module of the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) on young people on the labour market.
For more information:
Eurostat website section of EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)
Eurostat database of EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)
Eurostat news release on young people on the labour market
Eurostat Statistics Explained article on young people on the labour market
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