How many hours is “full-time” work? It varies around the world.

August 11, 2025
Posted in DIAMOND
August 11, 2025 admin

📍 How many hours is “full-time” work? It varies around the world.

  • France: Officially set at 35 hours/week by the Aubry law in 2000 (Source).
  • Germany: Commonly 36-40 hours/week (Source). 
  • Netherlands: Typically between 36-40 hours/week (Source).
  • Spain: Often 40 hours/week is standard (Source).
  • USA: 40 hours/week is the traditional benchmark for full-time (Source).
  • Mexico: Allowed up to 48 hours/week under federal law (Source).

Why does this matter?

Work-life balance, productivity, and well-being are shaped by these definitions. What counts as “full-time” can affect everything from parental leave to overtime rules.

💡 In DIAMOND Empower, we develop tools to improve re- and upskilling programs, and take factors, such as contracted hours, job satisfaction, and hourly wage into account in our analysis and policy recommendations.

⇒ Question for you: 

What weekly hour total do you think strikes the best balance between productivity and quality of life?

Learn more: https://diamond-empower.eu/

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DIAMOND Empowerment

Providing a Digital and Modular Ecosystem for
Personalized Capabilities Development to Enhance
Labour Market Participation and Employment Transition

Project Co-Funded by the EU: 101178081 — DIAMOND — HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01

Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those
of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA).
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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