Work, work, work.....

[Gob]

Australians are working an average of 32 hours a week, the lowest in over 30 years, detailed labour force data released by the Bureau of Statistics yesterday show.




But what looks like a reinforcement of a stereotype that Australians are living the good life rather than working hard is instead a reflection of a longer trend away from full-time towards part-time work, more flexible working hours, and the increasing casualisation of the work force, economists say.



"We know that over the last 12 to 18 months, conditions have been very tough on the economy and activity has been sluggish, especially for the retail sector," said Commonwealth Securities economist Savanth Sebastian, who pulled the figures together.


"As a result, while businesses are planning for a future turnaround and holding on to key staff, they are trying to maintain a lower cost base and that means cutting hours back, even for some of those full-time workers."

Compared with other countries, the number of hours Australians work appear neither enviably low nor outrageously high, averaging 1693 a year in 2011, or 32.5 hours a week, according to data collected by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The figures showed that Germans worked an average of just 27.2 hours a week, while Americans worked 34.4 hours per week.

In Greece, where unemployment is soaring, the workforce put in an average of 39.1 workers a week. The OECD average is 34.2 hours worked by employees per week for 2011.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-econ ... z2Ixncxbbs

[Long Run]

From the thread headline, I thought I was going to see:

[oldr_n_wsr]

That's "Hedley".
Whatever