New Delhi: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) released a new report on working time and work-life balance across the globe, in which it was clearly found that South and East Asia clock in the highest working hours. Much of this data was taken from the years just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.
The average annual hours per worker in South Korea, China, and India is still much higher than the US, Brazil and France, the report titled Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World said.
For example, China and India have seen a steady increase in annual working hours per worker during 1970-2017, from around 2,000 hours per year to slightly over 2,000, with China clocking in more hours and India being relatively consistent.
South Korea, on the other hand, has seen an overall decrease. From 1950 until the 1980s, a steep increase was seen from well under 2,500 hours per year to well above 2,500. It quickly dipped to just over 2,000 hours (less than India and China).
Longitudinal trends in average annual hours of work, selected developing countries versus two key developed countries. Photo: ILO’s Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World report
The US has seen a substantial decrease from around 2,000 hours in a year in 1950 to between 1,700-1,800 hours, annually, in 2017. From 1950 to 1970, Brazil saw an increase from 2,000 hours to slightly above, after which it decreased and is slightly less than the US. Germany has had a steady decrease from just above 2,500 hours in 1950 to under 1,500 hours in 2017.
In the last 50 years or so, it can be said that this study shows that South and East Asia work more hours in a year than the Western countries, for selected nations.
Also read: Indians Work Longest, Earn Least With Virtually No Time for Leisure: ILO Report
The ILO study found that South and East Asia have the highest average number of working hours in a week. South Asia records an average number of 49 working hours in a week, per worker, and East Asia, 48.8 hours.
It is also important to note the gendered difference. In South Asia, the number of working hours per week is 51.5 for men and 40.8 for women. East Asia records 49.4 for men and 48.1 for women. The gap between the average working hours for each gender is more uniform in the case of East Asia, suggesting that there is a lower gender disparity in working hours than in South Asia.
The least number of average working hours in a week are in Northern America and Northern, Western, and Southern Europe. Northern America records an overall average of 37.9 working hours in a week, with 40.1 for men and 35.4 for women. Northern, Western, and Southern Europe record 37.2 hours overall, with the average for men being 40.1 hours and women, 33.8.
Average number of hours of work per week, workers in formal and informal employment (in %, 2019) Photo: ILO’s Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World report
In addition to this, the broader Asia-Pacific region records the highest percentage of workers in developing, emerging, and developed regions working more than 48 hours a week (46.7%), especially in South (57.1%) and East Asia (47.7%). Similar trends have been recorded by self-employed workers in the region as well.
Another highlight is the formal and informal sector trends seen in South and East Asia. South Asia records 53.4 working hours in a week per worker in the formal sector (highest in the formal sector), 48.5 in informal. Meanwhile, East Asia records 47.8 working hours in a week per worker in the formal sector, and 51.2 hours in the informal sector (highest in the informal sector).
However, all of these are pre-COVID-19 figures. In order to ascertain the current situation, perhaps another study needs to be conducted sometime in the near future to assess the impact of the pandemic, which will give a current picture of East and South Asia’s standings in global working hours.
