Irish work week among shortest in EU

Full-time employees in Ireland have the second-shortest working week in Europe, according to a new study.

The European Labour Force Survey for 2010 showed staff working in Ireland spend 38.4 hours at work per week compared with an EU average of 40.4 hours.

Workers in Denmark had the shortest working week at 37.7 hours, while those in the UK had the longest at 42.2 hours.

Employees in Austria, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic all worked more than 40 hours per week.

On average, men worked longer hours than women at 41.1 hours compared to 39.3 hours.

In Ireland, men worked an average of three hours longer per week at 39.9 hours, compared with women at 36.6 hours.

The survey was compiled by the European statistics agency Eurostat.