Knocking off in November

To bring working hours down to the OECD average, Australian 
workers would have had to have knocked off for the year on 
November 20. Research just published by the Australia Institute 
shows the average Australian is working longer than their 
counterparts in any other developed country.

"While Australians consider they live in the land of the long 
weekend, the reality is that they now work the longest hours in 
the developed world", the Institute says.

Australian workers spend an average of 1855 hours a year on the 
job — 212 hours more than the figure across all 23 OECD 
countries, including Japan!

The research shows that Americans run second by racking up 
1835 working hours a year.

The paper also highlights an International Labour Organisation 
study showing Australia had the fourth highest level of people 
working more than 50 hours a week.

The report acknowledges some people work long hours as a matter 
of choice, but questions the view that Australians need to work 
long hours to maintain economic competitiveness. Norwegians, at 
the other end of the scale on just 1376, work 459 hours per annum 
less than Australians. The shorter hours have not put Norway out 
of business!

Workers in the Netherlands and Germany all average less than 1500 
hours at work a year.

That is the equivalent to 10-13 weeks less than in Australia.

Following Australia and the US on the workaholic scale are Japan 
(1821 hours per week), New Zealand (1817) and Canada (1767).

Australian workers are clearly not enjoying the fruits of higher 
productivity and new technology. It is not surprising to note 
that at the same time as Australians are working harder and 
longer, Business Review Weekly is featuring articles on 
why the profits of the top 1000 corporations in Australia are 
booming.

Long hours, low wages, job slashing and new technology all 
contributed to the profit boom.

The mining sector, where 12-hour shifts have become all too 
common, is wallowing in a 94 percent increase in profits in just 
the last 12 months.

It is time to ask:

* What ever happened to the eight-hour day, first won by 
Victorian stonemasons almost 150 years ago?

* What ever happened to the 35-hour week campaign that the ACTU 
was leading in the 1970s?

* What happened to the bans on overtime, in particular the bans 
on unpaid overtime?

* Where are the demands for a shorter working week without loss 
pay?

Just imagine how many hundreds of thousands of jobs could be 
created by cutting working hours back to the level of Norway or 
Germany!