Europe or America: where do women work longer hours?
The OECD and Credit Suisse have analyzed the hours worked by women in selected countries. Image: REUTERS/Michael Buholzer
The chart shows the average weekly hours worked by women in various developed markets. And, according to the data, around 65% of American women in the labor force work over 40 hours per week. By comparison, slightly over 30% of women in Germany do, and about 20% of women in France do.
Still, we should note that working more hours doesn't necessarily translate to getting more done.
Notably, a 2014 study by Stanford University's John Pencavel found that "long weekly hours and long daily hours do not necessarily yield high output."
"...this implies that, for some employees engaged in certain types of work, their profit-maximizing employer will not be indifferent to the length of their working hours over a day or week," Pencavel wrote.
Another interesting nugget from the chart is Japan's data. Although female labor force participation in Japan (66.0%) is low relative to some European countries (for example, Germany's is at 72.9%, according to the OECD), the women who do work in Japan work longer hours than their German counterparts.
In any case, check out the breakdown.
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