Britons just can't stop when the working day should be over

More than 600 million people worldwide work excessively long hours - and Britons are the worst offenders among rich nations.

An International Labour Organisation report on working trends shows that more than a quarter of British workers put in more than 48 hours a week.

The study by the United Nations agency covered 50 countries worldwide.

"The good news is that progress has been made in regulating normal working hours in developing and transition countries," said Jon C. Messenger, co-author of the study.

"But overall the findings of this study are definitely worrying."

And progress towards a maximum 48-hour week was stillunevennearly 100 years after the standard was agreed by members, the ILO report said.

It pointed to the growth of service industries, such as tourism and transport, and the expanding informal economy, where workers are not under contract, contributed to longer working hours.

Both elements are signs of increasing globalization, it said.

Topping the results of the study were Peruvians with more than half (50.9 per cent) of them working more than 48 hours a week.

They are followed by South Koreans (49.5 per cent), Thais (46.7 per cent) and Pakistanis (44.4 per cent).

In developed countries, where working hours are generally shorter, 25.7 per cent of British workers put in more than 48 hours a week followed by Israelis (25.5 per cent), Australians (20.4 per cent), Swiss (19.2 per cent) and U.S. workers (18.1 per cent).

The ILO maintains that shorter working hours benefit workers' health and family lives, reduce accidents at the workplace and generally make workers more productive.


(Reuters)

全世界有600多萬人超時工作，而英國人的工作時間則位居各發達國家之首。

國際勞工組織日前一項有關工作趨勢的報告顯示，四分之一以上的英國人一周工作時間超過48小時。

聯合國國際勞工組織在50個國家開展了該項調查。

調查報告撰寫者之一喬恩·C·麥新格說：“值得高興的是，在保證發展中國家和轉型期國家的正常工作時間方面有了進步。”

“但總體結果還是很令人擔憂。”

報告中說，周工作時間不超過48小時的標準100年前在各成員國中已達成協議，但直到現在，這方面的進步仍然不均衡。

調查表明，旅游、交通等服務業的增長，以及非正規經濟（所雇員工無合同保障）的不斷發展壯大是導致工作時間過長的主要原因。

報告指出，這兩大因素標志著全球化的不斷加速。

全球工作時間最長的國家是秘魯，超過一半（50.9%）的秘魯人一周的工作時間超過48小時。

其次是韓國（49.5%）、泰國（46.7%）和巴基斯坦（44.4%）。

發達國家的工作時間普遍較短，25.7%的英國人一周工作時間超過48小時，其次是以色列（25.5%）、澳大利亞（20.4%）、瑞士（19.2%）和美國（18.1%）。

國際勞工組織提出，縮短工作時間有益于人們的健康和家庭生活，可以減少工作場所的事故發生率，總體來說能夠提高員工的工作效率。

（來源：英語點津 姍姍編輯）