Work when others rest

More than one -fifth of the labor market in the European Union countries say they usually work something on weekends. According to Eurostat figures, the European Union Statistics Iceland, it was common for 22.4% of employed people in the labor market in Europe to work on Saturdays and/or Sundays last year. However, there is a big difference between countries.

Icelanders have often stood out in comparison during working hours and long working life among European nations, where average working hours have been long in this country and working life one of the longest, but in a new comparison of Eurostat on weekend work, Iceland does not appoint a group of top countries.

Last year, about 14% of workers in the Icelandic labor market usually worked on Saturdays and/or Sundays, and about 24% of self -employed individuals who have staff at work, or a total of more than 15% of employed people, according to Eurostat figures. In comparison, 22.7% of workers and 42.7% of self -employed in Norway usually worked on weekends.

The proportion of those who usually work on weekends in Iceland has been declining in recent years, cf. Eurostat, for example, they were about 21% in 2017 and 19% in 2020.

Corrected:

A card that followed the news in Morgunblaðið today did not have the right figures on the percentage of employees in weekend work, but here the correct version appears.