Bulgaria had the lowest rate in the European Union of those working long hours in 2023, EU statistics agency said on May 1, marking International Labour Day.

In 2023, 7.1 per cent of employed people in the EU worked long hours in their main job, Eurostat said.

Long working hours refer to those workers who usually spend 49 hours or more per week at work. Across the EU countries, Greece had the highest share of workers with long hours (11.6 per cent), followed by Cyprus (10.4 per cent) and France (10.1 per cent). Meanwhile, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria (0.4 per cent), Lithuania and Latvia (1.1 per cent each). 

A higher rate of self-employed people worked long hours (29.3 per cent of total self-employed people) compared with employees (3.6 per cent of total employees). 

Long working hours were more common among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (27.5 per cent of all skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers) and managers (21.9 per cent). All other occupational groups, as defined by the international standard classification of occupations (ISCO) averaged up to 7.3 per cent. 

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