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‘Lazy’ Greeks work more than the Swiss: OECD

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
‘Lazy’ Greeks work more than the Swiss: OECD
Photo: Liana Bitoli

During the height of the Euro crisis, Greeks were rapped for being lazy as their country buckled beneath economic woes, but figures from the OECD show they work longer hours than the Swiss — and workers in all other European countries.

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Statistics from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that the much maligned workers of Greece put in an average of 2,034 hours of work in 2012.

That works out to 42 hours a week, more than any other Europeans.

By comparison, the Swiss, despite their reputation for being industrious, worked an average of 1,619 hours a year, which works out to 38 hours a week. 

Among the 35 countries surveyed by the OECD only workers in Mexico (2,226), Chile (2,029 hours) and South Korea (2,090 hours in 2011) worked longer hours than Greeks.

“Who would have thought?” commented Swiss tabloid Blick online on Thursday.

“Greeks are more industrious than we Swiss.”

The newspaper notes that one of the reasons for the high number of work hours in Greece is that many adults hold down two or even three jobs to get by.

Highly-paid Swiss by comparison routinely hold down part-time jobs.

The OECD figures reveal that when it comes to “laziness”, the Dutch are world champs, working an average of just 1,381 hours a year.

They are just ahead of the Germans, who also work less than the Swiss, posting an average of 1,397 hours a year, 600 fewer than the Greeks.

Challenging another stereotype, the figures show Germans also work less than the French (1,479 hours).

Americans toiled an average of 1,790 hours, just above the 1,765-hour average for OECD member countries.
 

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