New report ranks Australians as 'hard workers'

An employers' group is surprised by a report that suggests Australians are among the world's hardest workers.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) report shows one-fifth of Australians work at least 50 hours per week.

It ranks Australia among the United States, New Zealand and Japan as the world's hardest working nations.

David Gregory from the Victorian chamber of commerce and industry says it is hard to believe, but also makes sense.

"We can't be a nation of bludgers as we were once perhaps perceived to be and yet on the other hand a country that's been very successful in terms of developments over the past decade," he said.

Give us a break: Australia is hard at work

By Tim Colebatch
Economics editor, Canberra
July 7, 2005
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Even with four weeks' annual leave, Australians are already the hardest-worked citizens in the Western world. We bear an average workload of 1855 hours a year - more than workers in the United States, Japan or anywhere in Europe.

Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews wants his changes to allow workers to swap two weeks of annual leave for money, but in fact our four weeks is already in the lower half of Western leave levels.

Whether you look at annual leave, public holidays or total working hours, comparison with other Western countries suggests Australian workers are far from being the bludgers we think. Koreans aside, no Westerners spend more time in the office, shop or factory than us.

In a book of statistics, How Australia Compares, Sydney academic Rodney Tiffen and Age columnist Ross Gittins found that Australians have the longest working year of any Western nation for which data is available.

Australians on average work 1855 hours a year, or 38.6 hours a week if you assume they work 48 weeks a year. That Australia also has the West's second highest rate of part-time workers, Tiffen and Gittins add, "makes its position at the top of the league of hard workers even more remarkable".
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US workers are second, averaging 1835 hours a year, followed by Japan (1821) and New Zealand (1817). Finland (1730) led the table in Western Europe, followed by the much-maligned British workers, who put in 1708 hours a year - three hours a week less than Australians.

Workers in only three Western countries have lower leave entitlements than Australia. In the US, there is no legal leave entitlement, but there is a de facto minimum of 10 days' leave and the average worker takes 17. Similarly, in Japan, the legal minimum is 10 days but the average is 18.

Australia's minimum of 10 public holidays a year is towards the lower end as an entitlement in the West.