Striking differences in annual leave across EU

Eurofound News September 2011

Substantial differences exist between EU Member States in terms of time off from work: when agreed annual leave and public holidays are added together, workers in Germany and Denmark have 40 days off per year. By contrast, workers in Romania have only 27 days; this difference equates to roughly two-and-a-half working weeks.

Eurofound’s recently published annual update on working time for 2010 looks at some key aspects of working time, including – in addition to annual leave and holidays
– collectively agreed working hours, statutory rules for the length of working weeks and days, and gender differences in working time. Across Europe, men work more hours in their paid job than do women. In the EU15, men work 2.3 hours more per week than their female counterparts and in the new Member States, 1.5 hours more. And in Estonia, Greece and Sweden, men work at least three hours more per week. The report also finds that, in nearly all Member States, Europeans work somewhat longer in reality than their average collectively agreed hours would indicate.
Read more in Working time developments - 2010

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