CYPRIOTS, with the exception of civil servants, have some of the longest working hours in the EU and are among those with the fewest holidays, a report reveals.
Workers in the new EU member states work on average three working weeks more per year than their counterparts in the old member states, according to a survey caried out by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO).
This review of the length of working time in 2003 and 2004 finds that the average collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union as a whole remained at around 38.6 hours, while average collectively agreed paid annual leave entitlement stood at 26 days in 2004.
According to the report, Cypriots work an average of 40.6 hours a week and have a collectively agreed annual leave entitlement of 20 days.
Only the civil service, with 38 hours per week, appears to have lower hours than the overall normal 40 hours, it said.
In 2004 in the EU 15 and Norway, the longest weekly hours in the civil service were 40 hours in Austria, Luxembourg and Sweden, with the shortest in Italy at 32.9.
“In Cyprus and Slovakia, weekly hours in the civil service are below the whole-economy average and in the Czech Republic they are above average, while in the other countries they are average,” said the report.
All countries also have a form of statutory maximum working day.
“In Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and the UK there is no explicit maximum working day except for night workers, but a 13-hour maximum in most circumstances can be derived from the application of the working time Directive’s minimum 11-hour daily rest period,” the report said.
In Finland, an employer and an employee can agree to extend regular daily working hours by up to one hour and in Germany, daily hours may be extended up to 10, if an eight-hour average is maintained over a 24-week reference period.
“In six countries usual hours exceed agreed hours by two hours or more – Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Latvia and the UK. In the UK, there is a 5.9-hour gap between agreed and usual hours,” the report added.
All countries examined have a statutory minimum period of paid annual leave. The great majority of countries, 19 out of 28 surveyed have a 20-day minimum entitlement, as laid down in the EU working time Directive but five countries have a 25-day minimum, Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Sweden, while the entitlement is 24 days in Malta, 22 in Portugal and Spain, and 21 in Norway. Workers in Sweden had 44 days off from work last year.
