Cyprus second in EU for long working hours

Ten per cent of people in Cyprus work long hours, making it the second-worst country in the EU after Greece, Eurostat said on Thursday. The EU average stood at 6.6 per cent of workers putting in 49 hours or more per week.

Eurostat added, however, that this is an improvement.

Data for 2024 indicated that 6.6 per cent of employed people aged 20 to 64 in the EU worked long hours, defined as usually spending 49 hours or more weekly in their main job.

This share of workers with long hours has decreased over time, down from 9.8 per cent in 2014 and 8.4 per cent in 2019.

Among the EU countries, Greece had the highest share of workers with long hours at 12.4 per cent. Cyprus followed with 10 per cent and France 9.9 per cent. In contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria with 0.4 per cent, Latvia 1 per cent and Lithuania 1.4 per cent.

The share of self-employed people who worked long hours, that is 27.5 per cent of total self-employed people, was higher than that of employees with 3.4 per cent of total employees.

Out of all occupational groups, as defined by the international standard classification of occupations (Isco), long working hours were most common among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers with 26.2 per cent of all employed people in that occupation group and managers with 21.1 per cent.