hardworking nation. Countries of the world where people work the most Which people are the most hardworking

South Koreans are recognized as the most hardworking in the world. These are the results of a study published by the financial and economic magazine Forbes, which assessed the level of efficiency in 32 countries according to the average annual number of "working hours", ITAR-TASS reports. Superiority in the rating to the South Koreans was provided by an indicator of 2,357 hours - that is how many citizens of a prosperous Asian country spend at work. The six-day work week is the norm rather than the exception. For the sake of a career, South Koreans put up with more than a short vacation, which is often only 3 days a year. As an illustration of South Korean industriousness, Forbes tells a curious story about a certain 39-year-old Lee. Civil servant Lee gets up every day at 5:30 am, takes a shower, eats breakfast, kisses his sleepy wife, and then hurries to the train, which will take him to Seoul in 2 hours. At 8:30 a.m., a Korean sits down at his desk and gets up from his office chair around 9:00 p.m. Then again follows a two-hour drive home, a shower and a short sleep. The next day, the routine is repeated. Incidentally, Lee has three children, whom he working week sees a total of no more than 15 minutes. And this is not extreme, writes the magazine. In this regard, in South Korea, legislative measures are periodically taken to limit the "labor ardor" of citizens. In 2004, a five-day work week was introduced in schools and companies with more than 1,000 employees. However, due to long traditions and "authoritarian corporate culture", as the Koreans themselves define it, such measures remain mostly on paper. The industrious Asians are slightly inferior to the Greeks, who work an average of 2,500 hours a year. The honorary 3-5 places are occupied by the countries of Eastern Europe - the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The USA takes only 9th place: on average, Americans manage to devote up to 10 days a year to rest. The UK came in 20th with a legally guaranteed vacation of about 20 days, which makes up for a fairly long work week. The rating is closed by Norway, Germany and Holland - approximately 1,390 working hours per year. http://money.newsru.com/article/23may2008/soutk While the Americans work hard "like blacks", the Russians prefer not to overwork In Russia, people work much less than in the US, in Japan and in many European countries. This conclusion follows from a comparison of data from Rosstat and international organization Labor (ILO), which published yesterday a new report on the main indicators of the global labor market. According to the ILO, more than 80% of Americans, Czechs, and Slovaks work more than 40 hours a week, while among Russians such "workaholics" Rosstat counted only about one and a half percent, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. The average working week, according to Rosstat, this year was 38.7 hours. This means that, taking into account the four-week vacation, Russians annually "hump" at work for about 1,700 hours, while in the United States and Japan, the length of the working year is often more than 1,800-1,900 hours. And in six Asian countries—such as South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka—the work year is at least 2,200 hours—that is, well over 40 hours a week, and with a very symbolic annual leave. Despite the relatively low working hours, Russia is still far from the most carefree countries in Europe in terms of the number of hours worked annually. In Germany, France, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, the working year lasts less than 1600 hours, that is, taking into account vacations and holidays, about 35 hours a week. According to the ILO, the average worker in Australia, Canada or Japan works 100 hours less than the average American. Brazilians and Britons work 250 hours less than their American counterparts, while Germans work 500 hours less than working Americans. In terms of the length of the working week, Russia is closer to Europe and fundamentally different from the United States and Asian countries, which is explained by the difference in national cultures and different economic logic, - says a leading researcher at the Institute of Management social processes Irina Soboleva. According to her, many Russians, in addition to a permanent place of work, are employed on additional earnings, which is difficult to account for by official statistics. "The shortest working week was observed in the crisis year of 1998, and since then it has been slowly increasing," Soboleva notes. Meanwhile, Olga Zhikhareva, deputy head of the labor statistics department of Rosstat, told NG that the average length of the working week, according to the results of sample surveys, has not changed since the beginning of the year and remains at the level of 38.7 hours. In most of the countries surveyed (35 out of 43), according to the ILO, there is a tendency to reduce the working week, although there are exceptions to this rule, including the United States. The largest relative shortening of the ILO working week is observed in South Korea, Ireland, Japan, France and Spain. The Norwegians have become a kind of champions in the desire not to overwork in Europe. More than 20% of employed people in Norway work less than 29 hours a week, and about 10% work less than 20 hours a week. At the same time, the proportion of workaholics who work more than 40 hours a week in Norway fell from 18% in 1996 to about 15% in 2006. The length of the working week is by no means the only and not the most important criterion for the industriousness and labor efficiency of citizens of a particular country. To evaluate the results of labor, it is much more important to compare labor productivity. And here the United States is again far ahead of Russia, as well as any other country. If in the question of the duration of the working week, the ILO notes a one and a half times difference depending on the country, then in terms of labor productivity there is more than a tenfold gap. According to ILO experts, the average American worker annually produces products worth 63.8 thousand dollars. The productivity of the average worker in Ireland is about 56 thousand dollars, in Belgium - 55.2 thousand dollars and in France - about 54.6 thousand dollars. In Russia, where the number of employed residents, according to Rosstat, is slightly less than 70 million people, one worker will produce goods worth an average of 25-28 thousand dollars this year. And this is an indicator at purchasing power parity, in nominal terms, each employed Russian will produce one and a half times less. http://money.newsru.com/article/04Sep2007/productivity

There are lists of the hardest working and laziest nations. In one of them, the South Koreans are named the most hardworking, and the Danes, Norwegians, Germans, and the French are the laziest. Russians and Finns are roughly in the middle - not the laziest, but not the busiest either. The USA, Italy and Greece are also in the top positions.

South Korea, 2193 hours per year

South Koreans are recognized as the most hardworking in the world. Average annual working hours: 2193. A typical Korean workday lasts 18 or even 20 hours, including commuting to and from work. The working week is 6 days, and the vacation consists of only three days.

Chile, 2068 hours per year

Chilean workers can work 45 hours a week legally, provided they have at least 24 hours of rest per week. A GDP of $ 20 thousand per capita is a good confirmation that even not the most modern economic system is able to work successfully if each employee gives all the best.

Estonia, 2021 hours per year

Compared to other European countries, Estonia has a low level of wages and a high rate of long-term unemployment. The employed population works, as a rule, 40 hours a week. Flexible working hours are rare here. Only 10% of Estonians work part-time.

Russian Federation, 2002 working hours per year

The average working week in Russia is 40 hours, and strict labor laws do not encourage citizens to work more than 50 hours a week. Meanwhile, according to Russian law, all employees receive 28 days of paid leave in addition to public holidays.
However, the average citizen of the country works 200 more hours per year than Americans, mainly because part-time work is not common in the country. Only about 5% of employed Russians work according to this scheme.

Poland, 1893 working hours per year

The average Polish worker works 40 hours a week, but for about 10% of employed men, the work week lasts more than 50 hours. Seasonal employment is also quite common, with about one in five Poles working on a short-term contract.

United States of America, average annual working hours - 1798

Four out of five Americans work at least 35 hours a week. The United States is the only developed country that does not guarantee workers the right to annual leave. Labor law United States, unlike most European states, also does not guarantee employees paid sick or maternity leave. The longest working week is for employees of mining and logging enterprises - an average of 44 hours.

Hungary, average annual number of working hours - 1797

In 2002, the Hungarian authorities considered the possibility of reducing the working week to 38 hours, including for the country's prime minister. But the proposal never became law, and about 71% of the country's employed population continues to work 39 to 41 hours a week. As in other Central European countries, there are very few part-time workers in Hungary. Only about 5% of Hungarians work less than 30 hours a week on average.

Japan, 1765 working hours per year

The Japanese are known for their workaholism. 12 hours a day is the average working day in Japan. The base workweek is 40 hours, but the actual workweek is often up to 50 hours as many workers do not count overtime because they are afraid they will be thought of as overtime workers. This is how “overtime service” works, and in Japan “overtime” means “unpaid”.

In 2012, Japan ranked ninth among industrialized countries in terms of the number of hours worked per year. But since 1990, the work week in Japan has been gradually shrinking. In 1995, the Japanese worked an average of 1910 hours per year, but in 2012 this figure decreased by 145 hours.

But in these countries working time was the smallest:
1. Germany
2. Netherlands
3. Norway
4. Denmark
5. France

Forbes magazine, based on data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, has compiled a list of the 30 most productive countries in the world. When compiling the rating, the number of hours that a worker spends on work was taken into account. The most hardworking were the Koreans, who spend about a quarter of the year in the service. And the most "lazy" were the inhabitants of the Netherlands - they spend on work a little more than one-eighth of the year.

Labor nations

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Statistical Yearbook Facebook 2008, among other information, provides data on the number of hours that people in an OECD country spend on work. For some inexplicable reason, the OECD provides data for 2006 (results for 2007 will be available in 2009). Based on these data, Forbes magazine compiled a rating of "The Most Employed Countries in the World".

The first place in the ranking was taken by Koreans, each of whom spent 2357 hours on work during the year. So the average duration labor day one working Korean is 6.5 hours (excluding holidays and weekends). Note that this country has held a leading position in terms of the number of working hours per person since 1980, when it was included in the OECD.

If we assume that Koreans work five days a week, vacations are four weeks, and days off are 14 weeks, then Koreans work 241 days a year. Thus, the average working day is 9.7 hours.

Hardworking Koreans are followed by no less hardworking Greeks, each of whom in 2006 was not too lazy to spend 2052 hours of his life on work. The third place was taken by the Czechs - they worked an average of 1997 hours a year. The fourth and fifth lines of the rating went to Hungary and Poland, whose residents the year before last worked 1989 and 1985 hours, respectively.

According to the OECD, the most "lazy" were the inhabitants of the Netherlands. There, each worker worked an average of 1,391 hours per year. Thus, the average working day of the Dutch, excluding weekends and public holidays, amounted to 3.8 hours a day. At the same time, if we take into account the four-week vacation and all weekends, it turns out that in Holland the average working day is 5.7 hours.

Back in 1987, when the country joined the OECD, the Netherlands took the penultimate place in the annual ranking, but since 1988 this country has traditionally been the least employed.

The top five "laziest" also included Norway, which, by the way, in 1987 was the least employed. At the end of 2006, this country ranked 29th. In Norway, each worker worked an average of 1,407 hours per year. In 28th place was Germany, whose citizens spent an average of 19 hours more on work than Norwegians.

Belgium and France ranked 26th and 27th respectively on the list of "World's Most Employed Countries". The French worked an average of 1,564 hours in 2006, while the Belgians worked 1,571 hours.

OECD researchers have noted that since 1983, in all countries that are members of the economic cooperation organization, the average working day of workers has been steadily declining. In this regard, the Koreans were again the first. Their average working hours fell by 1.3 hours from 7.8 hours in 1980.

The working day has changed least of all among Americans, who worked an average of 4.9 hours in 1980, 1990, and 2006. By the way, in the current ranking they took ninth place, each working American worked an average of 1797 hours per year.

It is curious that the Japanese, who at all times were famous for their diligence, took 12th place in 2006, having worked only 1784 hours each. Their average working day was 4.8 hours. However, in fairness, it is worth noting that from 1970 until the arrival of the Koreans in the OECD, Japan was in first place among the most working countries.

comparative calculus

But Russia is not in the ranking of the most hard-working countries, which, of course, is a little insulting. However, on the site Federal Service state statistics published all the data that can be used to restore justice and establish what place Russia could take if it were a member of the OECD.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development was created in 1948 to coordinate projects for the economic reconstruction of post-war Europe. The main function of the OECD is to develop recommendations for economic development for member countries, as well as organizing multilateral negotiations on economic issues. To a large extent, the OECD is focused on countering money laundering, tax evasion, corruption and bribery.

According to Rosstat, in 2006 the average working week was 38.4 hours. If we take into account that the year consists of 38 working weeks (minus the "red days of the calendar" and days off), it becomes obvious that in 2006 every working Russian worked only 1459 hours. Taking into account the received data, it is easy to find out that according to the results of 2006, Russia would be located in the rating between France and Germany, taking 28th place.

The average indicators of employment of the population can only serve to assess the efficiency of the use of labor resources. It is unlikely that any of the Koreans spends 9.7 hours at work: some can work two hours a day, while others - 12 hours. The same applies to all other countries. And if you think that Russians work much longer than citizens of other countries, then re-read this article again, draw your conclusions and ... go to work!

(OECD) compared the working hours of residents different countries peace. This took into account the number of hours spent not only on the performance of their duties in the service, but also the so-called unpaid time, that is, which people spend on housework.

The researchers believe that this estimate of total labor is important, because "unpaid work shows implicit income, and ignoring domestic work can distort income inequality and poverty rates." As an example, the OECD cites two families with equal income, but in one both parents work, and in the other only one. Where both parents work, you have to buy cleaning and childcare services. Thus, richer countries tend to work less, because "along with the industrialization of the country, most of the services for the home can be bought," the researchers state.

The shortest working day in the world was among the inhabitants Belgium- on average, each Belgian works only 7 hours 7 minutes a day, of which only 3 hours 47 minutes are spent directly on work, the remaining time for the Belgians, respectively, no one pays.

Behind the people of Belgium are Danes- they work only 14 minutes longer than the Belgians, but at the same time they spend less time on work, and a little more on housework. By the way, according to the data of the German statistical office, the inhabitants of Denmark have become leaders in the EU in terms of hourly pay. On average, a Dane earns about 37.6 euros per hour for his work - this is about 30% more than the average payments in the European Union. Thus, the inhabitants of the Scandinavian country can be recognized as the happiest workers in Europe - they work less, but earn the most.

Ranked third in terms of working hours Germans- they work only 3 minutes longer than the Danes and 17 minutes longer than the Belgians.

The most important in the EU lovers of strikes and demonstrations in order to defend their benefits French people were on the fourth line - their working day lasts only 8 minutes longer than the Danes, 24 minutes longer than the Belgians, and 3 minutes longer than the Germans. But for their work, French residents earn an average of 33 euros per hour, which is about 12% more than German residents earn (29.2 euros). By the way, according to Focus, the most expensive industries in Germany, with the highest costs, were the energy sector, where the average hourly payment reached 44.5 euros, as well as banks and Insurance companies- 43.70 euros per hour. The employer's expenses in the guest business turned out to be the lowest, here he paid about 14.3 euros per hour.

Following the French in the length of the working day are Dutch(7 hours 30 minutes), Finns(7 hours 31 minutes), Norse(7 hours 31 minutes), British(7 hours 53 minutes), and close the top ten Italians(7 hours 55 minutes).

The longest in Europe, oddly enough, work Portuguese- 8 hours 48 minutes a day. Of these, 4 hours 55 minutes they spend on their work duties, the remaining time - on household chores. “Thus, the siesta in the southern countries does not mean at all that they have a short working day,” the OECD experts conclude.

By the way, the most stingy employer of the European Union remains Bulgaria- The country's enterprises last year paid their employees an average of only 3.1 euros per hour.

Lately I've been having a hard time waking up, it's clear that winter is on the way. So yesterday I took my son to school, paid tax in the Savings Bank and went to sleep peacefully. I slept until half past ten. Today I did not pay the tax, I immediately went to bed - until ten. What would happen if I worked in the morning, as in the past, I don’t know.

And yesterday at noon on RBC they said and showed how they work in South Korea. Here are the hard workers!

The plot began with a hint that the current riots in Seoul are caused not only by corruption in the president’s inner circle (which you will not surprise us), but also by the fact that the people are having a nervous breakdown due to terrible processing. And South Koreans work from early morning until late at night. Numbers flashed there, like from 8 to 23, I figured it out and whistled. And they mentioned vacations of five days, which still need to be forced to take time off.

In the evening I looked for this article on the RBC website and did not find it. In the morning I dug around in the search in general and dug up another article about hardworking South Koreans. Although this article did not mention any demonstrations and corruption, it was still impressive.

So the inhabitants of this distant country work 2357 hours a year, which is much more than in other nations, and they have three days vacation instead of the legally required 10. The employee Li in question works 12 and a half hours, spends four hours traveling there and back, and sees his three children for 15 minutes a week.

At the same time, in terms of GDP per capita, South Korea is still inferior to many countries in this rating, whose regime is not at all so saturated.

“That's our culture,” Lee explains. “We always keep an eye on what the main boss thinks about our behavior. If you leave at 6:00 pm, you may not get a promotion or a raise.” But what if Lee still allows himself to take a month's vacation, well, at least once in his life? Forbes is interested. “When I return, there will be another one sitting at my table,” Lee replies.

Therefore, all attempts by the government to limit this labor ardor fail. Although in this light, the television thesis about a nervous breakdown looks a bit strange. Unless the citizens subconsciously want the new non-corrupt president to press their bosses in such a way that any attempt to detain an employee after 18.00 would immediately put them in jail. Otherwise, it is not clear what to do with such... um... culture.

But I wonder if such a working regime is introduced in our country under the pretext that there is no money, should we hold on and increase GDP through labor efforts? How will people react to this? After all, we had a slightly different culture - you pretend that you are paying, and we are that we are working.

(In the title photo, a reagent sprayer with a capacity of two Tajiks. Filmed before 2013, I haven’t seen these now.)