Greeks work the longest in the EU – and are not getting richer

Greece became the leader EU by length of the working week. According to Eurostat, Greeks work 39.6 hours a week versus the EU average of 35.9 hours..

The difference is almost 4 hours per week shows the unpleasant reality of the Greek labor market: Greeks work more than most Europeans, but this does not automatically translate into either a high standard of living or decent purchasing power.

At the opposite end of the ranking is Netherlandswhere the average actual working week is only 31.9 hours. That is, the Dutch work almost 8 hours lessthan the Greeks. And, oddly enough, the country did not collapse into the sea, and the economy did not die from a lack of labor heroism.

Numbers that are unpleasant to read

According to data Eurostatthe longest working weeks in the EU are recorded in:

• Greece — 39.6 hours;
• Poland And Bulgaria – 38.7 hours each;
• Lithuania — 38.4 hours;
• Slovenia – 38.3 hours.

The shortest indicators are noted in:

• the Netherlands — 31.9 hours;
• Germany And Denmark – 33.9 hours each;
• Austria – 34.0 hours.

Eurostat clarifies that we are talking about hours actually worked in the main job in the reference week, and not just about the formal contract schedule.

Men, women and self-employed

In Greece, men working full time worked on average in 2025 41.8 hours per week, women – 38.8 hours. The difference is about 3 hourswhich is among the notable gender gaps in working hours in the EU.

A particularly heavy burden falls on the self-employed and employers. According to the Greek press, citing Eurostat, self-employed people in Greece work on average about 46.3 hours per week, and employers – up to 49.2 hours.

In other words, a significant part of the country does not live in the “European work-life balance” mode, but in a constant race mode, where rest looks almost like an administrative violation.

13-hour workday on the horizon

These data are especially painful against the background of the new labor law, which provides for the possibility of expanding the working day in the private sector to 13 o’clock under certain conditions. The law was passed after protests and strikes, and its supporters talk about “labor market flexibility.” Opponents believe that we are talking about a further weakening of workers’ rights.

At the same time, the pan-European trend is going in the opposite direction: the average working week in the EU has decreased from 36.9 hours in 2015 to 35.9 hours in 2025. Greece, to put it mildly, did not fit into this trend.

Where do they work the most?

At the level of occupations and industries, the longest working weeks in the EU are recorded among workers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries – around 42 hours. Also, high rates are observed among managers and military personnel.

In Greece, this is especially important against the backdrop of another problem: the country is simultaneously losing employment in agriculture and increasing dependence on the service sector. It turns out to be a strange structure: people work a lot, but the production base is weakening, and a significant part of the new jobs goes into tourism, catering and seasonal services.

Editorial comment

The Greek labor market has long lived in a strange paradox: people work hard, get very tired, but do not get richer because of it. This is the real problem, not the number itself 39.6 hours.

If long workweeks were accompanied by high salaries, strong productivity and a sense of confidence in the future, the conversation would be different. But in Greece, many workers face low purchasing power, a high cost of living, expensive housing, expensive energy, and the constant feeling that they have to work harder and live harder.

Government rhetoric about development, investment and the “new economy” does not fit well with the reality of a person who spends more time at work than almost any other European, but also counts change at the supermarket and fears the next electricity bill.

All this looks especially cynical against the backdrop of talk about a 13-hour working day. When the country already ranks first in the EU for working hours, offering even more “flexibility” is a bit like curing fatigue by telling people to sleep less. Humanity generally loves such managerial discoveries: if a person can’t cope, then we need to put more workload on him.

The problem is not that Greeks don’t want to work. Quite the opposite: statistics show that they work the hardest in the EU. The problem is that work does not turn into a decent life.

And this is where the main political question begins. If a citizen works longer than the European average, but remains under pressure from debt, prices, rent and instability, then the problem is not the “laziness of society”, but the economic model.

Conclusion: Greece has become the European champion in working hours, but this championship does not look like a victory. It is more of a diagnosis: the country is squeezing more and more time out of people, but is not giving them enough security, income and quality of life in return. And if this model continues, the conversation will no longer be about productivity, but about the burnout of an entire society.

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