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Weekly Hours Worked

Indicators of Well-being in Canada

Work - Weekly Hours Worked

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The amount of time spent at work affects the time available for other activities, such as rest, caring for family members, learning, leisure or volunteering. At the same time, it affects earnings and contributes to economic productivity.

Summary

National Picture — In 2011, employed Canadians spent an average of 36.4 hours per week at work.
Gender — On average men spent more hours per week at work (39.3 hours) than women (33.0 hours) in 2011.
Age — Compared to other age groups, youth aged 15 to 24 spent the least time at work in 2011, working 28.0 hours on average per week.
Regions — In 2011, weekly hours of work varied between 35.4 in British Columbia and Quebec and 38.5 in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Percent of Time Spent Working — In 2011, approximately 10% of the total time available to all Canadians was devoted to paid work.

National Picture

In 2011, employed Canadians were working fewer hours on average each week compared to three decades earlier. Canadians worked 36.4 hours per week on average which was down from 38.0 in 1976.

This Chart contains data for Average hours worked per week, Canada, 1976-2011. Information is available in table below

Source: Statistics Canada. Labour force survey estimates (LFS), by total and average usual and actual hours worked, main or all jobs, type of work, sex and age group, annual (CANSIM Table 282-0028). Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2012.

Warning: This data table may contain very wide content. Horizontal scrolling may be necessary.

Average hours worked per week, Canada, 1976-2011 (number of hours)
1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
38.0	37.9	38.3	38.6	37.9	37.4	37.1	37.2	37.4	37.5	37.6	37.5	38.0	38.5	38.2	37.4	36.9	37.2	37.6	37.4	37.6	37.8	37.5	37.7	37.9	37.3	37.1	36.5	36.9	37.2	36.9	37.2	36.8	36.0	36.2	36.4

Gender

On average, men spent almost six hours more per week (39.3) at work than women (33.0) in 2011.

While the number of hours spent at work remained about the same for women between 1976 and 2011, it declined significantly for men. On average, in 2011, men spent about two hours less at work, compared to 1976.

This Chart contains data for Average hours worked per week, by gender, 1976-2011. Information is available in table below

Warning: This data table may contain very wide content. Horizontal scrolling may be necessary.

Average hours worked per week, by gender, 1976-2011 (number of hours)
	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Men	41.2	41.1	41.5	42.0	41.3	40.8	40.6	40.7	40.9	41.2	41.1	41.0	41.7	42.1	41.8	41.0	40.5	40.8	41.3	40.9	41.3	41.5	41.2	41.2	41.3	40.6	40.4	39.8	40.1	40.4	40.1	40.3	39.9	38.9	39.2	39.3
Women	32.7	32.6	33.1	33.2	32.7	32.3	32.2	32.3	32.6	32.6	32.8	32.7	33.2	33.7	33.7	33.0	32.5	32.7	33.0	32.9	33.1	33.2	33.1	33.4	33.8	33.4	33.2	32.7	33.0	33.4	33.2	33.5	33.2	32.6	32.7	33.0

Age

Canadian youth spent the least amount of time working each week compared to other age groups. In 2011, employed youth aged 15 to 24 worked on average 28.0 hours each week, which was about 10 hours less than employed individuals aged 25 to 54 (38.4 hours).

Individuals aged 55 to 64 worked on average 36.7 hours per week, whereas employed individuals 65 years of age and above worked on average 31.0 hours a week in 2011.

This Chart contains data for Average hours worked per week, by age, 2011. Information is available in table below

Warning: This data table may contain very wide content. Horizontal scrolling may be necessary.

Average hours worked per week, by age, 2011 (number of hours)
15-24 years	25-54 years	55-64 years	65+ years
28.0	38.4	36.7	31.0

Regions

In 2011, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador workers worked the longest hours on average each week (38.5) compared to the workers of other provinces. This is 2.1 hours longer than the national average of 36.4 hours. They were followed by workers in Saskatchewan (38.3). Workers of British Columbia and Quebec spent the least time in the workplace in 2011 with an average work week of 35.4 hours, each.

This Chart contains data for Average hours worked per week, by region, 2011. Information is available in table below

Warning: This data table may contain very wide content. Horizontal scrolling may be necessary.

Average hours worked per week, by region, 2011 (number of hours)
CAN	NL	PE	NS	NB	QC	ON	MB	SK	AB	BC
36.4	38.5	37.2	36.2	36.6	35.4	36.4	36.4	38.3	38.5	35.4

Percent of Time Spent Working

Another way of showing how much time Canadians spend working is to measure how many hours a year Canadians spend at paid work compared to the total number of hours available to them in a year (365 days x 24 hours x total population). This provides a measure of how much paid work time is used to support and sustain the whole society.

In 2011, of all the time available to Canadians, 10.0% of this time was spent on paid work. This is an increase of about 1.3 percentage points, since 1976 when approximately 8.7% of all available time was spent on paid work.

This Chart contains data for Time spent working, Canada, 1976-2011. Information is available in table below

Source: HRSDC calculations based on Statistics Canada. Labour force survey estimates (LFS), by total and average usual and actual hours worked, main or all jobs, type of work, sex and age group, annual (CANSIM Table 282-0028). Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2012; and Statistics Canada. Estimates of population, by age group and sex for July 1, Canada, provinces and territories, annual (CANSIM Table 051-0001). Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2011.

Warning: This data table may contain very wide content. Horizontal scrolling may be necessary.

Time spent working, Canada, 1976-2011 (percent of total number of hours in a year)
1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
8.7	8.8	9.0	9.3	9.3	9.3	8.9	8.9	9.0	9.3	9.5	9.6	9.9	10.1	9.9	9.4	9.0	9.1	9.3	9.3	9.4	9.5	9.6	9.8	10.0	9.8	9.9	9.9	10.0	10.1	10.1	10.3	10.3	9.7	9.8	10.0

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Average Weekly Hours Worked

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