
Issue No 33		01 October 1999

Work/Time/Life

It's Official: Aussies Work Harder

Extracted from This Working Life

Australians continue to work long hours in contrast to a world-wide trend in industrialised countries that has seen hours at work remaining steady or declining in recent years.

Australians work on average 1866 hours a year, which is 100 hours less than their US counterparts and only 23 hours less than Japanese workers.

Workers in Europe, on the other hand, are logging progressively fewer hours at work. Workers in the United Kingdom clocked up 1731 hours annually, more

than their counterparts in France (1656 hours), Western Germany (1560) or Sweden (1552 hours).

The figures were collected by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as part of their comprehensive study on labour trends. The study, Key Indicators of the Labour Market, 1999, surveys labour market and productivity trends through analysing 18 key indicators of labour market activity.

The full text of the report is available on the ILO's website http:www.ilo.org/public/english/60empfor/polemp/kilm/index

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  Issue 33 contents

Interview: The Boys
Labor Party heavyweights Eric Roozendaal and Damian O'Connor will lock horns this weekend. They fire their first shots.

Economics: Reasons to Be Cheerful
Can we change the way we look at the economy to better reflect community happiness and well-being?

Unions: Breaking the Wave
ACTU President's submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Workplace Relations Act.

International: The Wisdom of Solomon
A disturbing case from the Pacific where corporate lawyers are playing a deadly game.

History: Groundhog Day
Ghosts of Conferences past: some strangely familiar debates and decisions from previous state ALP conferences

Legal: Bad, Bad Things
Some of Australia's leading industrial lawyers argue that the Workplace Relations Act breaches basic international obligations.

Review: Tailing Out
As the BHP steelworks close in Newcastle a special book chronicles the stories of working live that have just become history.

Satire: Police Cut-Backs Lead To Drop In Organised Crime
An audit of the NSW Police has revealed that they have been seriously cutting back their operating budgets to ensure that they will be able to afford the increased security costs of the Olympics.

Work/Time/Life: It's Official: Aussies Work Harder
Australians continue to work long hours in contrast to a world-wide trend in industrialised countries that has seen hours at work remaining steady or declining in recent years.

» Station Cuts Derailed - But More Hits for the Scull

» Social Audit Backed by Community Groups

» Unions Take Common Priorities to State Conference

» Simmering Discontent Hits Boiling Point

» Public Sector Job Numbers Rubbery

» Timor Protest to be Dumped in Reith Wave

» Big Lunch Break for Stress-Free Day

» Arch Apologises for Youth Wage Debacle

» Clean Air Policy Up In Smoke

» Child Carers Stretched to the Limit

» Building Workers Won�t Settle for Half Pay

» Life, Art and Politics