From 43 years old in the Netherlands to 31 in Romania: this is how working life varies in the EU

The workers of the European Union who enter the labor market today will have a working life of 36.5 years on average, but there are important differences depending on the country: while the Dutch will work 43 and a half years, the Romanians -those who work the least years- will do so for 31 years and six months, according to data published last week by Eurostat based on activity rates.

The Nordic countries, including the three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, consisting of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, have the longest durations, over 40 years of working life: Iceland (45.4 years), the Netherlands (43.2 years), Sweden (42.6 years), Switzerland (42.0 years), Norway (41.2 years), Denmark (41.0 years) and Estonia (40.3 years) occupy the top positions.

By contrast, the shortest durations of working life are registered in Romania (31.5 years) and several southern European countries: Italy (32.2 years), Bulgaria (33.6 years), Greece (33.9 years), Croatia and Serbia, both with 34.0 years.

One of the factors that conditions the duration of the working career is the pension system that exists in each country.. Thus, for example, in the Netherlands, which holds the EU record for longest working careers, a pay-as-you-go system is combined in which access to a public pension is available from the age of 67 (similar to ours), with employment pension plans (within the company) and which in practice represent 70% of the total amount received at retirement.. Extending working life serves to ensure a certain level of income at the time of retirement.

On the contrary, in Romania, the pension system allows access to retirement at an early age, despite the fact that this same year it has been delayed until 63 years of age for women and 65 years of age for men. Given that workers manage to accumulate the years of contributions necessary to access the public pension earlier, they have an incentive not to continue with their working lives.

In Spain, working life expectancy stood at 36 years in 2022, its highest level in the historical series, since for example in 2021 it was estimated that Spaniards would work on average 35 years and 8 months before accessing retirement. We work more years than in other Mediterranean countries -such as Italy and Greece-, but less than they do in France (there they work 7 months more on average), Portugal (where they work two more years) or Germany (where the working life lasts 3 years and 3 months more).

The labor career in Spain has grown in the last two decades, since in the year 2000 it stood at an average of 30 years and 10 months, so that those who entered the labor market at the age of 25, retired on average at 55. In 22 years, careers have been extended by six years. In the EU average, the increase in the same period has been lower, four years, going from 32.3 to 36.5 years.

In Lithuania and Estonia women work longer

In addition to important geographical differences, the Eurostat data reflects a gender gap in terms of the length of working careers: men work more years, on average, than women, with the exception of Lithuania and Estonia, the only two countries in which women have longer working careers than men, 1.5 years and 9 months, respectively.. In Finland and Latvia there is hardly any gender difference.

On average in the EU, women have a working life of 34 years, compared to the 38 and a half years that men work, four more years. In Spain, the difference is almost four years: women work 34 years and men 37 years and 10 months.

There are extreme cases, in which women have working careers of less than thirty years, such as Romania, where they work for an average of 28 years, or Italy, with 27 and a half years; or where men are close to fifty years of working life, such as Iceland (37 years) or the Netherlands (where they exceed 45 years).

The longest lengths of working life for women, i.e. over 37 years, are found in Sweden (41.4 years), the Netherlands (41.1), Estonia (40.7), Finland (39.7), Denmark (39.4), Lithuania (38.1), Germany and Portugal (both 37.4 years), as well as in the EFTA countries: Iceland (43.7 years), Switzerland (39.8 years) and Norway (39.7 years).