Turkish workers log the longest hours in Europe, yet earn among the least
Turkey has the longest average weekly working hours among European countries, with 44.2 hours, compared to the European average of 36.1 hours, according to the Eurostat. However, Turkey ranks third from last in minimum wage among European countries.
The average weekly working hours in European Union countries was 36.1 hours, whereas Turkey topped the list with average of 44.2 hours, according to the latest statistics of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) released in September.
Turkey ranking third from last in minimum wage among European countries, while having the longest working hours, revealed that workers in Turkey work more but earn less compared to the rest of Europe.
In the Netherlands, which has the lowest average working time with 32.2 hours, the minimum wage was around 2,070 euros, while in Turkey, where the average working time was 10 hours more, it was around 453 euros (17,002 Turkish liras).
Labor union TÜRK-İŞ calculated the hunger threshold for a family of four as 19,271 liras (€514) and the poverty threshold as 62,772 liras (€1.674) in August.
The countries with the closest average weekly working hours to Turkey were Serbia with 41.7 hours, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 41.4 hours, and neighboring Greece with 39.8 hours.