© Marcel Crozet / ILO

Statistics on working time

Table of Contents

Introduction

Adequate working time is a crucial part of decent work. It represents a key element of working conditions and has a great impact on workers’ income, well-being, and living conditions.

Some of the major challenges regarding working time have persisted since the dawn of the industrial age: excessive hours of work and the need to protect workers’ health and safety by limiting working hours and providing adequate periods of rest and recuperation, including weekly rest and paid annual leave – which are enshrined in international labour standards.

On the other hand, in order to reach an adequate level of monthly remuneration, workers should have access to a minimum desirable number of hours of work, avoiding involuntary part-time employment and time-related underemployment.

Data catalogue

Methods

Sources and Methods Volume 3A: Household surveys (2004) – Economically active population, employment, unemployment and hours of work

This volume presents national methodological descriptions of statistics of employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work and other indicators derived from labour force and household surveys, disseminated on ILOSTAT. It is a revised and updated version of the second edition issued in 1990. This third edition contains descriptions for 83 countries.

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Data Explorer

This tool provides an intuitive interface to filter the selection, pivot the table, calculate distributions and growth rates, and export data into various formats.

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Data available in the Excel summary files are for indicators only (not available for countries or regions) for selected classification items for 2010 onward for annual data and 2018 onward for short-term indicators. For historical data or additional classifications, either use the Data Explorer or download the CSV file. 

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