Ah, work-life balance – that ever-elusive ideal Canadian Millennials keep hearing about but have yet to see in the flesh.
Well, look at it this way: at least you’re not employing your labour in Mexico.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mexicans work more hours than those in any other country in the developed or developing world (35 OECD member countries were analyzed).
On average, Mexicans spend 2,255 hours at work per year. This totals around 43 hours per week. By contrast, Germans work the fewest hours among countries included in the data. German workers only contribute around 1,363 hours per year – 892 fewer hours than German employees.
Workers in Costa Rica work the second-longest hours, while those in South Korea work the third-longest. Greece and Russia round out the top five, respectively.
Canadian workers, meanwhile, are in the middle of the spectrum, clocking in 1,700 hours per year. That’s about on par with those in Japan and Spain. Our American friends also work a middling 1,783 hours per year. The countries where workers work less than Canadians are all European.
The best work-life balance, which measures how many employees in a country work “very long hours,” can be found in Denmark. Only 2% of employees in Denmark regularly work very long hours, compared to the OECD average of 13%.
On a related note, it’s almost the weekend, so get out there and enjoy your roughly 7000 annual hours of freedom.