More hours were worked in Switzerland in 2021
In 2021, a total of 7798 billion hours were worked in Switzerland. This corresponds to an increase of 2.5 percent compared with the previous year. However, the pre-pandemic level has not yet been reached again.
According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office's employment volume statistics (AVOL), the number of hours worked by all employed persons in Switzerland increased by 2.5 percent in 2021 compared with the previous year, but did not reach the level seen before the Covid 19 pandemic. Since the number of employed persons remained almost unchanged between 2020 and 2021 (-0.1 percent), the increase in hours worked can be explained by the increase in actual annual working hours per job (+2.6 percent). The latter was due, on the one hand, to the sharp decline in absenteeism due to short-time work and, on the other hand, to the significant decrease in absences "for other reasons" such as quarantine or activity restrictions of self-employed workers during the pandemic (2020: 40 hours per job; 2021: 24 hours).
Primary sector: more than 45 working hours per week
In 2021, the actual weekly working time of full-time employees was 39 hours and 16 minutes. The highest actual working time per week was registered among full-time employees in the primary sector (45 hours and 8 minutes). This was followed by the "Credit and insurance industry" (41 hours and 24 minutes), "Professional, scientific and technical services" and "Public administration" (40 hours and 20 minutes each). At 29 hours and 45 minutes, actual working time was lowest in the "Hotels and restaurants" sector, mainly due to the still widespread use of short-time work (278 hours lost per job).
Between 2020 and 2021, actual weekly working hours increased in most EU/EFTA countries. In Switzerland, it increased slightly more (+4.7 percent) than the EU average (+4.1 percent).
Source: FSO/press release
