Fewer extra hours worked in second half of 2009

Last year, 38 percent of employees were doing overtime on a regular basis. This percentage has hardly changed in recent years and also remained stable during the economic crisis. The amount of hours worked in overtime has declined marginally in 2009.

Fewer busy weeks at the end of 2009

Overtime can be measured as the number of hours worked in overtime on a regular basis or by measuring the amount of hours people work in a specific week beyond their regular working hours. Over the period 2005-2008, the proportion of people putting in extra hours has risen continually.

In the first quarter of 2009, the proportion of people working extra hours had still increased substantially relative to the same quarter one year previously. In the second and third quarters of 2009, there was no obvious increase in the amount of overtime hours. The proportion of employees working beyond normal working hours declined by 0.6 percentage points.

Proportion of employees working extra hours in a specific week

Over one third of overtime hours remunerated

Over 36 percent of regular overtime workers in 2009 were paid and nearly 28 percent were compensated in extra time off. The remaining 36 percent were doing unpaid overtime work. The amount of paid overtime hours dropped marginally in 2009.

Overtime hours employees by type of compensation

Amount of hours worked in overtime marginally down in 2009

The number of extra hours put in by employees on a regular basis declined marginally in 2009 compared to 2008. On average, part-timers worked 4 hours a week in overtime, full-timers 6.5 hours.

Overtime hours employees working extra hours on a regular basis by weekly working hours, 2005-2009

Martijn Souren