The statistical indicator of man-hours worked, divided by the total number of employees, excluding seasonal and agricultural workers, is called indicator of the average working week
The data is divided on a weekly basis, into a working five-day period and is averaged by the end of the month. The indicator analyzes the state of the labor market, since production in a period of stagnation transfers workers to a part-time working week, and the service sector practices partial employment.
If the situation worsens in the direction of the crisis, the duration of the week is reduced. This is usually followed by an increase in applications for unemployment benefits and, as a result, an increase in its level.
Features of the working week length
The length of the working week is a legally established parameter, ranging from 112 hours in North Korea to 35 hours in France. Developed countries are guided by the indicator of 40 hours and strive to reduce this figure. The first state to officially reduce the working time of the "five-day" in the private and public sector by 5 hours was France. A compromise with employers was achieved by the decision to pay overtime hours with a 10% surcharge from the basic salary, instead of the ubiquitous one-and-a-half or double compensation.
The real data of the hours worked in the Fifth Republic turned out to be higher than the American working week – an average of 39.5 hours, whereas with the American 40 officially adopted by law hours, workers and employees do not produce the level of 35 hours. This shows that the duration of the week determines the development of technologies, and not legislative initiatives.
In the European Union, it is allowed to work 48 hours a week, this figure means the absolute maximum, above which it is impossible to work even with overtime payments.
The highest ceiling for rationing maximum output among developed economies of overtime hours or week length is in Japan and South Korea. But the Country of the Rising Sun has lost the status of hardworking, taking the 17th place in real man-hours. In the OECD countries, Mexico is on the first line in terms of average duration, followed by South Korea, and then Greece.
Actually worked hours of the working week is an "internal" indicator of the statistical bodies of most countries. Similar data in the calendar of economic events is published only by the US authorities.
Frequency and format of publication
The US Bureau of Employment Accounting collects statistics and calculations, as well as publishes data on Average Workweek, releasing an indicator on the first Friday of each month.
The figures are published as the number of hours – the indicator "tends" to the level of 35. The time of publication is the first Friday of each month at 8-30 EST/17-30 Moscow time.
Impact on the Forex market
The average number of man-hours of a working week is rarely reflected in quotes national currencies US by weight news on Nonfarm payrolls that are released simultaneously with this indicator. The data are mainly used for complex calculations of other parameters, investors take them into account as a correction factor of labor productivity and the cost of output per unit of production.