Maltese workers are less likely to work long hours than their counterparts across the rest of the EU, new statistics show. 

Employees, employers and self-employed workers in Malta all worked fewer long hours last year than the European average, according to a Eurostat survey published on Monday. 

When compared to the EU average, the proportion of workers in Malta putting in longer hours (4.5 per cent) was just less than two-thirds of the average seen across the continent (7.3 per cent). 

Long hours are defined as more than 49 hours per week. 

Company employees worked the fewest number of long hours, with 2.2 per cent working more than 49 hours per week. The European average was 3.8 per cent.  

At almost nine times that number (19.5 per cent), employers worked the most long hours, the study found, while those who were self-employed came in a close second at 17.4 per cent.

These were still significantly less than the average across the EU, however, which stood at 43.2 and 24.3 per cent respectively.  

According to the report, men worked longer hours than women in general, though the difference was more pronounced amongst self-employed workers.

Last year, almost three times the number of self-employed men worked longer hours than their female counterparts, at 21.3 per cent when compared to 7.3 per cent of women in Malta.

The difference was not as pronounced across the union, with 15.4 per cent of self-employed women working long hours when compared to 29.3 per cent of men.  

Agricultural workers were more likely to work longer hours, the report said. Photo: Shutterstock.

The group who worked the longest hours were male employers, though data for female employers in Malta was not available. The study defined employers as self-employed persons that employ others. Those without employees were identified simply as self-employed. 

Almost double the number of male employees stayed longer at the office than their female colleagues, the report said, though the numbers for both these groups (2.8 and 1.5 per cent respectively) were significantly lower than their self-employed or employer counterparts.  

The average time spent at work for both genders was higher across the EU, with 5.3 per cent of men working longer hours and 2.2 per cent of women. 

Long working hours were more common for agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (28 per cent of the sector total) and managers (24 per cent) across the EU when compared with any other major occupational group, all of which had less than 8 per cent. 

“Across the EU countries, Greece had the highest share of workers with long hours (13 per cent), followed by France and Cyprus (each 10 per cent). Meanwhile, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia (each 1 per cent),” the study said.  

Eurostat is the official statistics office for the EU. It gathers data from across the bloc via national statistics departments such as Malta’s NSO.