The average working day in Spain is now 37.8 hours per week, only 18 minutes above the Government's proposal

The average working day in Spain stands at 37.8 hours per week, the equivalent of 7 hours and 34 minutes of work per day, according to the latest Eurostat data updated at the end of 2022.. This means that in practice Spaniards work on average 18 minutes more per week than the EU average, which is 37.5 hours, exactly the level at which the parties that make up the Government in Spain want to reach it by law. functions.

It must be taken into account that although on average Spaniards work 37.8 hours a week, this is an average of all working days, so there will be some who dedicate much less time to their job and others who have longer days.. In fact, according to the latest EPA, 8.8 million workers in Spain worked 40 to 49 hours a week in the third quarter of this year and 1.33 million worked more than 50 hours a week – most of them employees of the manufacturing industry and commerce -, in both cases exceeding the legal limit.

However, if by law the maximum working time is capped at 37.5 hours per week, this real average of effective weekly work will drop to probably be below the Union average.. This decrease in the maximum working time by law will be done gradually, since in 2024 it will drop from the current 40 hours per week to 38.5, and in 2025 to 37.5, according to the pre-agreement of the PSOE and Sumar to reissue the coalition Government .

The sectors in which people work the longest in Spain are agriculture, livestock and fishing (with an average of 40.7 hours of work per week); transportation and storage, with 38.7 hours; construction, with 38.4 hours per week; and the supply of electrical energy (38.1 hours), according to the latest EPA.

According to Eurostat data, working hours in the European Union are very heterogeneous. At the extremes are the Netherlands, with a working day of only 33.2 hours per week (6 hours and 38 minutes) and Greece, with 41 hours (8 hours and 12 minutes per day).. Among the workers with shorter hours than the Spanish are the Germans (35.3 hours), Italians (37.4) and French (37.4).

The trend in the last fifteen years has been to reduce the working day on the continent, since it has gone from 38.3 hours per week in 2008 to 37.5 hours at the end of 2022 (48 minutes less); a reduction that has also occurred in Spain, where the working day has gone from 39.3 hours in 2008 to 37.8 hours today (one and a half hours less weekly work).

This decrease responds to factors of different types. On the one hand, in those countries in which there has been a gain in productivity – that is, where workers are capable of producing the same or more in less time – it is logical that working hours have been shortened.. However, Spain does not stand out for having registered an increase in productivity in that period, so reducing working time can translate into a brake on economic growth.

Also influencing is the rise of part-time employment, which has reduced the average working day of citizens, something that has happened especially in some countries like Spain, where this solution was used to recover the labor market after the 2008 crisis and still remains very established in the schemes of companies.

Furthermore, the sectoral recomposition of the economy has also reduced the hours of employment, since sectors such as construction, which are very intensive in hours, no longer have as high a weight on the GDP as they did in 2008.

The employers oppose

CEOE, Cepyme and ATA, the majority representatives of companies, SMEs and the self-employed, have shown their rejection of this reduction in working hours by law since they consider that it will have “a negative impact on the activity of companies, especially SMEs and self-employed, and therefore for the growth of the economy and the creation of jobs in Spain”.

“It is surprising that the agreement goes into issues specific to Social Dialogue, agreeing on very relevant aspects, such as that relating to working hours, behind the backs of the social partners and with an obvious interventionist desire and which is an attack on the constitutional role of the social agents. There is the possibility of exploring new distribution formulas between work time and rest or leisure time, but not as a consequence of a legal imposition but through collective bargaining.. The regulation of working hours must be addressed sector by sector and company by company, analyzing in each case whether there is sufficient productivity margin and the organizational needs of the employer,” they claimed in a joint statement.

They have warned that any imposed cut in working hours while maintaining the same salary level will result in more costs for companies..

The inspection, too

Criticism of the pre-agreement has also come from the Labor Inspection, which has denounced that it will not be able to monitor compliance with the increase in the Minimum Wage and the reduction of the working day in companies if its control is not reinforced. template.

“In accordance with the press release that has been sent by the Government agreement reached by the PSOE and Sumar, from the Labor and Social Security Inspection we hope that they will explain how compliance with the reduction in working hours, the increase in SMI, the new paid permits… without the reinforcement of the Inspection. If they forget about the Labor Inspection, the agreement will remain a drawing that cannot be fulfilled,” sources from the organization have warned.