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Posted on 27-10-2004 Kiwis Work Second-longest Hours In West By Stuart Dye, 27.10.2004, NZ Herald
New Zealand workers put in the second-longest hours in the Western world,
an international report says.
The International Labour Organisation study found that 20 per cent of the
New Zealand workforce worked at least 50 hours a week, compared with less
than 10 per cent in most European countries.
The study, which also looked at working times in Australia, the European
Union, Japan and the United States, found that only Japanese workers
clocked longer hours than those in New Zealand.
Titled Working Time and Workers' Preferences in Industrialised Countries:
Finding the Balance, the report argues that there are substantial gaps
between the hours that people are actually working and the number of hours
that they need or would prefer to work.
Jon Messenger, the report's editor, said: "There are groups of workers
with excessively long hours who would prefer to work less, and at the same
time there is a sizeable group of workers whose hours of work are
significantly shorter than they would prefer."
In Japan, 28.1 per cent of the workforce clocked more than 50 hours in a
week, followed by 21.3 per cent of New Zealand employees.
During the late 1990s, Americans and Australians working more than 50
hours a week rose from 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the workforce.
By contrast, in most European Union countries, before this year's
expansion of the EU, the number of people working 50 hours or more a week
remained well under 10 per cent.
Figures ranged from 1.4 per cent in the Netherlands to 6.2 per cent in
Greece and Ireland.
The only exception was Britain, where 15.5 per cent of the workforce spent
50 hours or more at work.
The overall pattern was that countries with relatively limited regulation
of working time, such as New Zealand and Britain, tended to have a much
higher incidence of excessive hours than other countries, according to the
ILO.
But on the other side of the equation, workers could have difficulty
getting enough hours as part- time work became increasingly prevalent, the
report said.
Last year the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions identified the work/life
balance as a major issue facing New Zealand.
CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said the ILO report confirmed the council's
own research.
"It's a timely contribution to a critical debate," said Ms Beaumont.
The CTU was releasing its own report next week which would call for
tighter regulation of working hours, including definitions of what was
"excessive".
Ms Beaumont said it was a problem that would be solved not just by
legislation, but by employers, workers and unions working together.
"There's a wide-ranging need for change. These issues are only going to
intensify."
The New Zealand Labour Department has launched a Work-Life Balance Project
to find ways to help people balance their jobs and their lives.
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