The average full-time civilian employee in the United States works about 39.5 hours a week, which comes out to a little more than 2,000 hours a year, and earns $37,128 US Dollars per year. Americans work longer hours than those in all but seven other Organization for Economic Development (OECD) countries, including the United Kingdom, which has an average workweek of 36.4 hours; Germany, which has an average workweek of 35.7 hours; France, which has an average workweek of 38 hours; and the Netherlands, which has an average workweek of 30 hours.
More facts about work hours and salaries:
- Countries that have longer working hours than the U.S. include Greece, where people work an average of 42 hours a week; Mexico, which has an average workweek of 43 hours; and South Korea, where people work an average of 45.9 hours a week. The OECD country with the highest average weekly working hours as of 2010 was Turkey, where people worked an average of 49.3 hours a week.
- Although South Koreans used to work the most hours per year of any OECD citizens, the yearly working hours in South Korea declined by more than 60 hours from 2007 to 2008. This is partially because of government caps on working hours to help curb overwork.
- A 2010 study by the Center for American Progress found that about 40 percent of American men born after 1956 work more than 40 hours a week and that many of them considered working 40 hours per week to be working "part time."
