Taiwanese work 4th most hours in the world

台灣人總工時全球排名第四

People in Taiwan averaged 2,021 working hours in 2020

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — People in Taiwan work the fourth most hours in the world, according to a survey of 40 countries carried out by the Ministry of Labor (MOL).

According to MOL’s figures, Taiwanese workers logged an average of 2,021 hours in 2020, putting them in front of every other country surveyed except for three. Singapore ranked first with an average of 2,288 hours in 2020, followed by Columbia with 2,172 hours (using 2019 data), and Mexico with 2,124 hours last year, according to CNA.

Focusing on just Asia, workers in Singapore and Taiwan racked up the most hours, followed by South Korea, where workers averaged 1,908 hours, and Japan where people spent around 1,598 hours working.

The survey found that compared to last year’s results, this year saw decreases in average working hours for all 40 countries. According to MOL’s head of Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment, Huang Wei-chan (黃維琛), the drop in hours can be attributed to the pandemic and lockdowns.

Huang said that due to Taiwan’s relatively small population of part-time workers compared to other countries, it includes part-time hours into its calculations, which can partly explain the long hours worked by Taiwanese. The nation’s part-time workers accounted for 3.7% of the workforce, up from a previous 3.2%, Huang said.