Working Hours Comparison Calculator
See how your working hours compare to national and OECD averages.
Derived figures
- Earnings, hours and minimum wage — derived from ILOSTAT (hours worked, minimum wage); World Bank PIP (income distribution) (Per-country most recent ILOSTAT observation) using Hours worked and minimum wage are ILOSTAT's published figures. The earnings percentiles are NOT published earnings percentiles: they are a lognormal fit to World Bank PIP's median and Gini, which measure per-capita household welfare rather than individual employment earnings, so they sit below a full-time salary for the same country.
How this is calculated
Your weekly hours are annualized (× 52 weeks) and converted to working days (÷ 8 hours/day), then compared as a percentage against both your country's average annual hours and the OECD's 1,726-hour benchmark. Comparing against both figures matters because national averages can differ substantially from the wider OECD benchmark — a working pattern that looks unremarkable within your own country can still be well above or below the international average.
Using this calculator's defaults — 40 weekly hours in the US — that annualizes to 40 × 52 = 2,080 hours per year, or 2,080 / 8 = 260 working days. That figure sits noticeably above the 1,726-hour OECD benchmark, reflecting the US's comparatively long average working year relative to many other developed economies. To see how those hours translate into pay relative to other countries, see the Cross-Country Equivalent Salary calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the 1,726-hour OECD average come from?
- A commonly cited OECD average annual working hours figure, used here as a fixed cross-country benchmark alongside your own country's average.
- How is "annual working days" calculated?
- Your weekly hours × 52 weeks, divided by 8 hours per standard working day.
- What does this calculator compare?
- It compares the weekly hours you actually work against two benchmarks: your own country's average annual working hours, and the wider OECD average — showing whether you work more or less than typical for your country and internationally.
- Which countries work the most and fewest hours?
- Average annual working hours tend to be highest in parts of Latin America, Southeast Asia, and some emerging economies, and lowest in Western and Northern Europe — countries like Germany and the Netherlands consistently report among the shortest average working years, often several hundred hours below the OECD average.
- Does this include part-time workers?
- National average working-hours figures typically blend full-time and part-time workers together, which pulls the national average down in countries with a high share of part-time employment — bear that in mind when comparing your own full-time hours against a national average.
- Why do working hours differ so much between countries?
- Differences reflect a mix of labour regulation (statutory limits on weekly hours, mandated annual leave), cultural norms around work-life balance, the structure of the economy (services vs. manufacturing vs. agriculture), and the prevalence of part-time work.
- What is the OECD average for annual working hours?
- A commonly cited OECD average sits around 1,726 hours per year — used here as a fixed international benchmark alongside your specific country's average, which can differ substantially from the OECD figure in either direction.