Spaniards work more than Germans, says OECD report

SPAIN The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has put an end to a mythhe about Spain, according to much of the media on this subject. Spain is not all about sun, beach and fiesta, says (in other words) the OECD's Society at a Glance report for 2011. This country is placed 13th on the list of most hours worked (it says nothing about efficiency), ahead of Germany and Denmark but behind Japan, which heads it. The average time spent working for pay or studying in Spain is 4.6 hours a day (276 minutes), while in Germany they spend 19% less, or 232 minutes, while in Denmark the figure is 225 minutes, or 22.6% less. The list is topped by the Japanese, who work or study for 376 minutes (6.2 hours) each day. followed by the South Koreans (348 mins) and the Mexicans (342 mins), which last destroys another myth. Conversely,>Japan is at the bottom of the list for unpaid work, and, together with the Chinese, spend less time cooking, shopping or house cleaning (2.7 hours daily, 164 mins), while the Spaniards spend 3.3 hours (198 mins) at these chores.

 

In the overall ranking that covers all work, paid and unpaid, the Mexicans head the list with an average of 594 minutes. After that come the Japanese (540), the Portiguese (528) and the Canadians (517). The last sopot is for the Belgians (427) and travelling up the list now, the Danes (441) and the Germans (445). Spaniards get an average of  475 minutes.

While the averages pull apart the myth about Spain, another myth continues unabated: The differences by gender in carrying out housekeeping chores. The report says, "The gender gap in unpaid work in Spain at three hours and seven minutes per day is the sixth highest in the OECD," which carries an average of 2 hours, 28 minutes.

 

The report also points out that non-remunerated work in Spain, accounts for 41% of the GDP, the fifth largest proportion after Japan (42%), New Zealand (43%), Australia (46%) and Portugal (53%).