Working hours of Danish wage-earners

This Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI) report surveys the number of hours Danes work and the factors influencing working hours. Choice and length of education, sector, gender and number of children are only some of the factors considered in the analyses in the report. Working hours are calculated for the individual person and together for couples. The purpose is to establish whether couples balance their working hours with one another, and if so, in what way.
The survey shows that women’s working hours are generally more affected than men’s working hours. Children, number of children and children’s ages, in particular, are factors influencing women’s working hours. These factors are significantly more important than their partner’s working hours.
The survey also shows that women generally work less hours than men, and that employees in the public sector, regardless of gender, work less hours than employees in the private sector. Women employed in the health sector work least hours on average.
The survey is based on the Lønstatistikken (pay statistics) linked with register data from Statistics Denmark. The survey was commissioned and funded by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions and the Confederation of Professionals in Denmark.