Xinhua News
A survey showed that Singapore workers come in first in the number of hours they put in at work, local media reported on Monday.
According to local newspaper the Straits Times, the report by the International Labor Organization put the workers at the top of13 economies in the group’s Global Wages Report for 2008-09.
The report compared data for 2007 with that of 2008 and for the first quarter of last year, when the financial crisis was at its worst.
A check with Singapore’s Manpower Ministry put working hours in Singapore at 45.9 hours a week for 2008 and for the first quarter of last year. In 2007, it was 46.3 hours.
The Manpower Ministry said workers in Singapore did an average of three hours of overtime a week in the beginning of last year, which increased progressively to 3.6 hours towards the end of September, as the economy gradually picks up.
Average working hours among the surveyed economies dropped from39 in 2007 to 38.2 hours a week in 2008 and in the first quarter of last year.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6865108.html