Friday, August 11, 2006

Grafting Brits work harder than the rest of Europe

The French work the fewest hours of any country on earth, a new survey has revealed. Leisure-loving Parisiens graft for just 1,480 hours a year, with 27 days annual holiday, meaning they have more free time than any other nation on the planet.

Britons work 1,782 hours a year - 301 more than the French - and have 20 days holiday a year, which means practically everybody in Europe works fewer hours and has more holiday than us. With French in first position for fewest working hours, Britain comes in at 36th in the study of work in 122 cities in more than 100 countries.

The European shirk league is: Paris (1,480), Berlin (1,611), Oslo (1,627), Copenhagen (1,644), Vienna (1,649), Brussels (1,672), Amsterdam (1,687), Athens (1,714), Luxembourg (1,725), Stockholm (1,726), Dublin (1,727), Rome (1,747), Madrid (1,758), London (1,782) and Zurich (1,807).

The world's longest working hours were found in Asian countries, where virtually all nations worked more than the global average.

The hardest working country was South Korea, where workers slogged away for 2,317 hours a year - or just over 50 hours a week - and had just ten days annual leave, according to the survey.

The next three hardest working nations were all also Asian nations - Hong Kong (2,231 hours and 9 days leave), Taiwan (2,143 hours and 12 days leave) and India (2,205 hours and 17 days leave).

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