When working hours and their impact on workers are discussed, the focus
tends to be placed on the extent of long working hours. As discussed in the
previous chapters, most working time regulations have been enacted with a
Global trends in actual working hours 37
particular emphasis on reducing long working hours for the safety and
health of workers, among other objectives. However, it is not easy to know
the extent to which long working hours are undertaken, especially from an
international perspective. The key reason is that the concept of long working
hours is a relative one, depending on how many hours can be seen as long
enough to cause concerns.
There appears to be three ways of examining long hours: