Archive:Hours of work in detail - quarterly statistics
Data extracted in December 2020
Planned article update: April 2021
Highlights
Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
Since the first quarter of 2020, the labour market has been affected by measures taken by Member States to limit the spread of COVID-19. Measures to fight the pandemic continued during the third quarter of 2020. Some of these measures directly or indirectly affected the number of working hours of employed people.
The present article complements the article on Hours of work, with a more detailed analysis of the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) quarterly data on working hours in the main job. The number of average actual weekly hours of work in the quarter are, for example, compared between employees and self-employed persons, as well as across occupations.
Given the level of detail, data used in this article are not seasonally adjusted. For this reason (in order not to be biased by the seasonal effect), data from the last available quarter (third quarter of 2020) are compared with data from the same quarter of the previous year (third quarter of 2019).
Moreover, to increase the level of comparability between countries, the value of the average actual weekly hours of work for the total population in the second quarter of 2019 has been fixed to 100 for the EU-27 aggregate and for each country. Then, the average actual weekly hours of work for each subpopulation or breakdown for both the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 is compared with the value previously fixed to 100 (hours of work of total population in second quarter 2019) for the EU-27 aggregate and for each country. This method allows a fair comparison of the different values of the index between the different subpopulations and also between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 (as it wipes out the effect of a different measurement of actual working hours across countries).
The average hours of work are computed on people that reported working hours of one hour and more in the reference week. Consequently, the presented indexes do not include those who were employed with zero working hours in the reference week.
In this period of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have been temporarily shut down, with people being absent from work and/or in temporary lay-off. To see the effect of the pandemic on the hours of work, evolution of the number of persons included in the average, i.e. the number of persons having reported working hours in the reference week of one hour or more, should also be taken into account. For this reason, this article also presents the index of average hours of work corrected for employment; this corresponds to an index of the volume of working hours.
The article is part of the online publication Labour market in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic - quarterly statistics and presents results on the hours of work (quarterly data) of the European Union (EU) as a whole, for all EU Member States individually (except Germany for which data is not yet available), as well as for the United Kingdom, three EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and two candidate countries (North Macedonia and Serbia).
Full article
Gender differences in the working hours
Longer working weeks for men than for women in third quarter of 2020
At EU level, in the third quarter of 2020, the index of the average weekly working hours for employed persons aged 15 years and older was 99 points. This average includes both part-time and full-time jobs. At country level, the index ranged from 97 points in Sweden to 101 points in Greece (difference of 4 index points). As the value of 100 for the index has been fixed on the third quarter of 2019 for each country separately, this means that the working time increased from the third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020 in Greece, as in all other countries with an index above 100 in the third quarter of 2020. Respectively, in the countries with an index below 100 in the third quarter of 2020, the average working time decreased between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020. Among these, Sweden corresponded to the sharpest decrease in average working hours per week between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 (Figure 1).
Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
Taking gender into account, the overall tendency is that men had longer working weeks than women in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020). Indeed, the index has been fixed on the third quarter of 2019 (Q3 2019) for the total population, and when the index for the male population in a country is above the index for the female population, it means that men have on average a longer working week than women. This is confirmed at EU level, where men (105 index points) had a higher index than women (91 index points).
Looking at the male population, the index of working hours in Q3 2020 reached a value that was equal to or greater than 100 points in all EU Member States. This means that the average working week for men in Q3 2020 was longer than the one of the total population in Q3 2019 for all EU countries.
Men in the Netherlands (112 index points), Ireland and Austria (both 108 index points) had average working hours in Q3 2020 farthest from the average working hours of their total population in Q3 2019. Men in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary displayed an index of 100 or 101 points, corresponding to a stable situation. With regard to women, their index ranged from 99 points in Bulgaria, followed by 98 points in Latvia and Croatia, to 83 points in The Netherlands, followed by 85 points in Austria and 88 points in Ireland. It is to be noted that the Netherlands has a higher rate of female part-timers than the other Member States.
Comparing the outcomes of the third quarter (index for Q3 2020 taking Q3 2019 as reference) with the results from the second quarter (index for Q2 2020 taking Q2 2019 as reference), it can be concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic had, relatively seen, a somewhat bigger impact on the hours of work in the second quarter compared to the third quarter. Indeed, the lowest value, among EU Member States, of the index of the average weekly working hours was 92 in Q2 2020, while it dropped to 97 points in Q3 2020. In Q3 2020, all countries are within a close range of 100 index points, whereas in Q2 2020 Austria was most impacted. Concerning the gender difference, women underwent a deteriorating impact in Q2 2020. The index of Austrian and Dutch women were equal to 80 and 81 points respectively. Their situation actually improved during the third quarter where the index of the average weekly working hours was 85 and 83 points respectively.
More detailed information on the results of the second quarter can be found here.
Similar pattern between men and women, but substantial differences across countries
In the previous section, changes in the working hours were analysed in terms of index points difference, where the index refers to the average weekly hours of work. To complement this analysis, percentage changes of the index are computed in this section (Figure 2 left side).
As the index is based on the average weekly hours worked by employed persons with at least one working hour during the reference week, employed persons having not worked during the reference week are not included in the index. Changes in the index are then underestimated, especially in this COVID-19 pandemic period, where a significant amount of the employed people were not working for some weeks. Consequently, in order to consider changes in the total volume of working hours, figures corrected for the number of employed persons are also presented in this section (figures labelled "corrected for employment", Figure 2 right side).
Looking back to the second quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic progressed together with a continuation, and sometimes a reinforcement, of the measures taken by the EU Member States. At EU level, the working hours declined by -14.8 % between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020.
See here for more details.
In contrast, during the third quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic seem to have less impact on the the average weekly hours worked. At EU-level, the percentage change of the index "corrected for employment" was only declined by -2.7 % At country level, there was a slight shift in the ranking of EU Member States that were more and less affected during the third quarter compared with the second quarter. To be more specific, the total volume of working hours of employed persons dropped the most in Spain and Portugal with -7.3 % and -7.2 % respectively between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020. This pattern is comparable to the pattern in the second quarter, albeit that the drop in the total volume of working hours was almost four times as much (Q2 2020 compared to Q2 2019). During the third quarter of 2020, Czechia, Slovakia (both +0.1 %), the Netherlands (0.4 %) and Luxembourg (0.9 %) recorded an increase in the volume of working hours.
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Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
Looking at the gender breakdown, at EU-27 level, the working hours of women increased slightly more than those of men with a change of -2.5 % for women and -2.9 % for men between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020. At country level, men in Portugal were the most affected in terms of total volume of working hours (i.e. average working hours corrected for employment), with -8.7 % change between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, followed by men in Sweden (-6.8 %) and Spain (-6.7 %). Women followed a different pattern across countries than men. Women in Spain registered the largest decrease in working hours, with -8.0 % change in the total volume of working hours, followed by women in Ireland (-6.2 %) and Croatia (-5.6 %).
Both women (+0.5 %) and men (0.3 %) in the Netherlands recorded an increase in the total volume of working hours. In addition, women in Luxembourg increased their hours of work with 4.3 %, whereas men had an decrease of -1.6 % in their working hours (Q3 2020 compared to Q3 2019). A similar pattern can be found for Finland and Malta. The opposite is found for Croatia. Where the volume of working hours of men was similar during the third quarter of 2020, the volume for women in the same period decreased with -5.6 % (compared to Q3 2019). This pattern is more or less comparable to the situation in Slovakia and Poland. Moreover, women in Czechia had similar working hours during the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2019 (change of 0.0 %), men on the other hand had an increase in their volume of working hours (0.5 %) in the same period.
All in all, the pattern by country and sex has changed between the second and the third quarter, in terms of percentage change in working hours. More information on the first quarter can be found here.
Changes in the hours of work by professional status
Self-employed persons with employees had the longest working weeks
Professional status is divided into four categories: employees, self-employed with employees, self-employed without employees and family workers. In the first quarter of 2020 (January until March), self-employed persons with employees had the highest indexes for the average weekly hours of work in the main job across the EU (see here for more details). This pattern did not change during the period from April-June of 2020, i.e. the second quarter of 2020 (Figure 3). Indeed, at EU level, the index for self-employed persons with employees was equal to 119 points in Q2 2020. Furthermore, in almost all Member States, the index was equal to and above 101 points for this professional status, ranging from 101 points in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania to 141 points in Denmark (difference of 40 index points). The only exceptions were Hungary (99 index points) and Latvia (92 index points), with an index less than 100 points.
Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
For self-employed persons without employees, the EU-27 had an index of average number of actual working hours per week of 100 points in Q2 2020. This means that the average working hours for this population subgroup in Q2 2020 were the same as for the total population in Q2 2019. In the Netherlands, Czechia and Sweden, the index was also equal to 100 points, whereas in 12 Member States the index was above 100, ranging from 101 points in Bulgaria to 112 points in Ireland. In the other countries, the index was below 100 points, with values ranging from 84 index points in Estonia to 99 index points in Finland.
Regarding employees, the index of the average actual weekly hours worked in the EU-27 was less than 100, i.e. 96 points, in Q2 2020. Furthermore, 20 Member States had an index of actual hours of work lower than 100 points in that quarter. This means that, for the majority of EU countries, the average working week for employees in Q2 2020 was shorter than the one for the total population in Q2 2019. The lowest value for the index in Q2 2020 can be found in Austria (89 index points). Member States with an index of 100 points and more were Hungary, Latvia, Finland and Romania (all four 100 points) and Denmark and Cyprus (both 101 points).
The average hours of work for the last group, consisting of contributing family workers, corresponded to index points ranging from 44 points in Ireland to 106 points in Bulgaria in Q2 2020 .
As a final remark for this part, it can be concluded that the pattern, as regards the average of actual hours of work, by country and professional status has changed from the first quarter to the second quarter. See here for more detailed information on Q1 2020.
Total hours of work for self-employed persons with employees decreased the most in Malta
At EU level, the index of actual working hours, in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the second quarter of 2019, was mostly impacted in the group of self-employed persons (figures corrected for employment). Between quarter two of the consecutive years, there was a percentage change of -22.5 % for self-employed with employees and of -22.4 % for their counterparts without employees. Contributing family workers and employees followed with a change in the index of working hours of -14.1 % and -13.4 % respectively.
At country level, the most striking changes by professional status were registered for contributing family workers in terms of percentage change between the indexes of Q2 2019 and Q2 2020. Among EU Member States with data available, family workers in Cyprus (with -59.0 % change between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020) and Spain (-55.0 %) faced the largest decreases in their volume of working hours (i.e. index of working hours corrected for employment). By contrast, family workers in Sweden (+78.3 %) and Austria (+42.1 %) had the largest increase. Please note that in some countries the subpopulation of family workers is small and can consequently lead to results with a low reliability (Figure 4).
Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
Self-employed persons with employees also saw their volume of working hours change significantly between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020. Malta (-41.4 %), Ireland (-38.0 %) and Cyprus (-37.3 %) underwent the largest decreases, while only Latvia saw an increase (+11.0 %). Denmark (-1.6 %), Luxembourg (-2.9 %), Finland (-3.9 %) and the Netherlands (-8.7 %) recorded the smallest decrease.
In regard to self-employed persons without employees, Cyprus (-39.7 %) again had the largest decrease in the actual weekly working hours, followed this time by Ireland (-35.6 %), Spain (-33.7 %) and Portugal (-33.6 %). In the case of self-employed persons without employees, only two countries recorded an increase. Latvia, again, with +8.4 %, and Hungary with +3.9 %.
Employees encountered, relatively speaking, the smallest degree of changes in working hours (corrected for employment). Percentage changes ranged from -25.1 % in Spain, -24.5 % in Greece and -24.3 % in Portugal to -3.3 % in Denmark and -3.9 % in Sweden. The two last countries showed similar figures when quarter one of consecutive years were compared. In the case of Spain, Greece and Portugal, on the other hand, the decrease in working hours between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020 is more than five times as much than the figures for the first quarter. More information on the results related to the first quarter can be found here.
Working hours broken down by occupation
Managers had the longest working hours in second quarter of 2020
In this last section, the focus is put on occupations, split into two groups. Group A includes managers; professionals; technicians and associate professionals; clerical support workers; and service and sales workers, while group B consists of skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers; craft and related trades workers; plant and machine operators and assemblers; elementary occupations; and armed forces occupations (Figure 5).
In group A, managers displayed an index of average working hours of 109 index points at EU level in Q2 2020. In the majority of Member States, the index was above 100 points, with the exception of Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland (index ranged from 95 points in Lithuania to 100 points in Poland). The index of actual working hours for the other countries ranged from 101 points in Romania, Hungary and Austria to 128 points in the Netherlands and 137 points in Denmark. For the first quarter, managers also had the longest working hours within this group of occupations (see here for more information).
The average working hours of professionals corresponded to 97 index points at EU level in Q2 2020, meaning that this population subgroup recorded lower average working hours in Q2 2020 than the total population in Q2 2019. In Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland, the index was above 100 points in Q2 2020 (106, 103 and 101 points respectively) whereas for the other countries the index ranged from 86 points in Greece to 100 points in Spain, Finland and Sweden.
Within group A, the lowest indexes at EU level, are found for clerical support workers (91 index points) and service and sales workers (94 index points). Within these two groups, at country level, the lowest index for the average working hours was recorded in the Netherlands (79 index points for service and sales workers) and in Austria (80 index points for clerical support workers). By contrast, their counterparts in Cyprus and Latvia had an index of 103 points (corresponding to service and sales workers in Cyprus and to clerical support workers in Latvia).
Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
In group B, skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers and armed forces occupations corresponded to the highest index points in the EU-27 in Q2 2020, with 110 index points for both types of workers. For skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, Portugal (80 points) and Romania (83 points) registered the lowest indexes in relation to the actual weekly hours of work, whereas Ireland (141 index points) and Belgium (139 index points) recorded the highest indexes. For the armed forces occupations, Portugal (85 index points) displayed the smallest value and Cyprus (133 index points) and Austria (126 index points) the largest. Nevertheless, the lowest value of the index over the whole group B can be found for elementary occupations in the Netherlands, with 63 index points.
Largest impact on service and sales workers in second quarter of 2020
Analysing the percentage change of the index between the second quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2020, the volume of working hours (i.e. the index of working hours corrected for employment) appeared as decreasing the most for service and sales workers. In the EU-27, the volume of actual working hours for this group dropped by -28.1 % over the period, while it only decreased by -15.9 % for managers.
The impact on the volume of working hours for sales and service workers was less significant for the first quarter. Taking results for Italy as an example, the change for sales and service workers in this country for the first quarter (percentage change of the index corrected for employment between Q1 2019 and Q1 2020) was -13.1 %, while it was for the second quarter (percentage change of the index corrected for employment between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020) -36.5 %. More detailed information on the first quarter can be found here.
At country level, the largest decline in the hours of work for service and sales workers in the second quarter can be observed in Spain (-44.6 %), followed by Cyprus (-44.2 %) and Ireland (-41.8 %). However, service and sales workers in Denmark (-9.3 %), Sweden (-11.1 %) and Romania (-12.7 %) saw their volume of hours of work decreasing to a lesser extent between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020 (Figure 6).
Source: Eurostat (lfsq_ewhais)
Focusing on the group of managers, in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease in working hours was recorded in all EU Member States, except in Luxembourg where the hours of work increased with +10.9 %. Italy was the country where managers faced the largest decrease in their working hours (-31.6 %), followed by Portugal (-28.4 %), Ireland (-27.2 %) and Greece (-26.5 %). As a reference, the corresponding percentages in the first quarter were less pronounced, with -16.4 % in Italy, -9.6 % in Portugal, -0.7 % in Ireland and +0.1 % in Greece.
The group of clerical support workers encountered a decrease of -13.2 % in their working hours in Q2 2020 compared to Q2 2019. Variations exist across Member States: in Slovenia, Spain and Greece the working hours decreased by around 25 % (-25.1 %, -25.3 % and -25.6 % respectively). On the other hand, working hours were significantly less affected in Denmark (-1.4 %) and Finland (-1.8 %). In Latvia, clerical support workers experienced a rise in the actual hours of work (+5.7 %).
For technicians and associate professionals, the percentage change for the index of working hours corrected for employment was -9.7 % for the EU-27 in Q2 2020. The change in percentages ranged from -3.8% in Finland and -3.9 % in Sweden to -22.8 % in Malta and -25.5 % in Portugal.
Professionals were the least impacted in Q2 2020 (compared to Q2 2019; corrected for employment) with a decrease of -1.5 %. The percentage change in working hours ranged from -20.9 % in Greece to +12.3 % in Hungary.
Focusing on group B, workers in elementary occupations (those involved in simple routine tasks like cleaners) had a decrease in their total working hours by -25.8 % at EU level. The largest decrease in working hours took place in Ireland and Portugal in Q2 2020, with -44.5 % and -42.5 % respectively. By contrast, the decline in the index of total hours of worked was lowest in Latvia and Luxembourg in Q2 2020, with -6.4 % and -6.2 % respectively. The percentage changes in the volume of working hours in the second quarter were significantly higher than the corresponding ones in the first quarter. More information on the first quarter can be found here.
Craft and related trades workers (-19.8 %) and plant and machine operators and assemblers (-20.1 %) compile the second group of workers for whom working hours decreased the most between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020 at EU level. Among Member States, Ireland recorded the largest drop in the volume of working hours for both occupation types: -40.5 % (craft and related trades workers) and -35.1 % (plant and machine operators and assemblers). Latvia, on the other hand, showed the smallest decrease for craft and related trades workers (-3.9 %). Furthermore, Croatia was the only country that recorded an increase in the change in working hours for plant and machine operators and assemblers in the second quarter with +9.2 %.
In the EU-27, skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers underwent a decrease in working hours of -4.7 % in the second quarter of 2020 (compared to the second quarter of 2019; corrected for employment). The percentage change in working hours at country level, ranged from -36.3 % in Slovakia to +10.5 % in Sweden.
Finally, those in armed forces occupations were hit the least in their working hours: -4.3 % at EU level in Q2 2020. However, this type of occupation showed extreme values for the changes in volume of working hours (Figure 6). The percentage change in the index of working hours (corrected for employment) ranged from +83.4 % in Czechia to -43.1 % in Portugal.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
All figures in this article are based on detailed quarterly survey results from European labour force survey (EU-LFS).
Source: The European Union labour force survey (EU-LFS) is the largest European household sample survey providing quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15 and over as well as on persons outside the labour force. It covers residents in private households. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results. The EU-LFS is based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, which means that the results are comparable between countries.
European aggregates: EU refers to the sum of EU-27 Member States.
Country note: Due to technical issues with the introduction of the new German system of integrated household surveys, including the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the figures for Germany for the first and second quarter of 2020 are not direct estimates from LFS microdata, but based on a larger sample including additional data from other integrated household surveys. A restricted set of indicators has been estimated and used for the production of the LFS Main Indicators. These estimates have also been used in the calculation of EU and EA aggregates, and are published for some selected indicators (estimates for Germany are flagged as p – provisional, and u – unreliable). For more information, see here.
Definitions: The concepts and definitions used in the labour force survey follow the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation.
Five different articles on detailed technical and methodological information are linked from the overview page of the online publication EU labour force survey.
Context
The COVID-19 crisis hit Europe in January and February 2020, with the first cases confirmed in Spain, France and Italy. COVID-19 infections have now been diagnosed in all European Union (EU) Member States. To fight the pandemic, EU Member States have taken a wide variety of measures. From the second week of March, most countries closed retail shops apart from supermarkets, pharmacies and banks. Bars, restaurants and hotels have also been closed. In Italy and Spain, non-essential production was stopped and several countries imposed regional or even national lock-down measures which further stifled the economic activities in many areas. In addition, schools were closed, public events were cancelled and private gatherings (with numbers of persons varying from 2 to 50) were banned in most Member States.
The large majority of the prevention measures were taken during mid-March 2020 and most of the prevention measures and restrictions were kept for the whole of April and May 2020. The first quarter 2020 is consequently the first quarter in which the labour market across the EU has been affected by COVID-19 measures taken by the Member States.
Employment and unemployment as defined by the ILO concept are, in this particular situation, not sufficient to describe the developments taking place in the labour market. In this first phase of the crisis, active measures to contain employment losses led to absences from work rather than dismissals, and individuals could not search for work or were not available due to the containment measures, thus not counting as unemployed.
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