Working hours increase in Luxembourg

10/11/2009, by Jane Bretin

The Eurostat study, published on Friday showed that working hours had globally decreased across the European Union but Luxembourg figures have increased.

The figures for both the European Union and the Eurozone show a drop in working hours of about 0.7 hours. Two countries, however, have registered a rise, Luxembourg that experienced a 1 hour increase and Latvia that only saw a very slight increase of about 0.1 hour. The most drastic drops occurred in Estonia, where employees work an average 1.5 hours less than in 2008 and in Finland, Slovakia and Austria (-1.4 hours).

These figures can be explained by a rise in part-time working due to the economic crisis, the employment rates have also dropped in the European Union by 1.9% since 2008. The proportion of part-time workers has increased from 18.3% in the 2nd quarter of 2008 to 18.8% for the second quarter of 2009 for the European Union. The amount of part-time workers increased in 22 of the 27 countries, the largest proportions were registered in Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania and Slovakia.

Although employment has declined globally in the EU, it has risen for qualified employees. Between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, employment for people who are not or little qualified (secondary school level), employment decreased by 4.9%. For people who have a professional training (non-academic), employment dropped by 2.6% in the EU but on the other hand, for university graduates, employment rose by 3%.