Once again, Mexico and Costa Rica are listed as the countries whose citizens work the longest hours according to the  “Employment Outlook” study carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The analysis of the OECD includes 38 member countries, from North and South America to Europe and Asia-Pacific, the hours worked is calculated as follows: “Average annual hours worked is defined as the total number of hours actually worked per year divided by the average number of people in employment per year. Actual hours worked include regular work hours of full-time, part-time and part-year workers, paid and unpaid overtime, hours worked in additional jobs, and exclude time not worked because of public holidays, annual paid leave, own illness, injury and temporary disability, maternity leave, parental leave, schooling or training, slack work for technical or economic reasons, strike or labour dispute, bad weather, compensation leave and other reasons. The data cover employees and self-employed workers. This indicator is measured in terms of hours per worker per year”.

The data shows that Costa Ricans work in average 449 hours more per year than the average of the countries.
Mexicans average a total 2,255 hours a year, while Costa Ricans 2,212 hours a year, the average is of 1,763 hours a year.

The World Economic Forum questions the relation between hours worked and productivity; for instance, while Germany averages less hours worked, they manage to maintain high levels of productivity.

“As a matter of fact, the German worker is on average 27% more productive than its English counterpart”, published the Forum.

The study is meant to raise awareness on work-life and health balance.