Overworked: The Report, Issued By The ...

Overworked: The report, issued by the International Labor Organization, found that Americans added nearly a full week to their work year during the ‘90’s, climbing to 1,979 hours on average last year, up 36 hours from ‘90. That means Americans who are employed are putting in nearly 49.5 weeks a year on the job. Americans work 137 hours, or about 3.5 half weeks, more a year than Japanese workers, 260 hours or 6.5 weeks more a year than British workers and 499 hours 12.5 weeks more a year than German workers. In the mid-90’s the US surpassed Japan, and since then it has pulled farther ahead. Among the reasons for the large differences between the US and other countries are that Europeans typically take 4-6 weeks of vacation each year while Americans take 2-3 weeks. And while American employers kept adding overtime during the ‘90’s, in France the government reduced the official workweek to 35 hours. (NY Times 9/1/01)

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