The bar charts compare the proportion of industrial sector employees working different weekly hour ranges in France, Denmark Sweden, and the UK in 2002.
Overall, while the Denmark and Sweden tend to cluster heavily around the standard 36-40 hour week, the reverse was true for working schedules in France. Notable, too ,is the fact that the UK stands out for having a significant share of employees working 46 or more hours.
Focusing first on the Nordic countries, which share the largest proportion of workers in the 36-40 hour bracket, around 70% in Denmark and almost 80% in Sweden. Other categories account for little to no fractions in both countries, indicating a strong tendency toward full time hours and minimal variation in weekly schedules compared to other states’ trends.
Shifting the focus to the UK and France, it is clear that their working hours are spread across a wider range of categories compared with Denmark and Sweden. In France, just over half of employees work 31-35 hours per week, with the second largest group working 36-40 hours(37%).The UK, on the other hand, has its largest proportion in the 36-40 hour category at about 50%,but also records the highest share of workers in the 46-50 and 50+ hour ranges indicating a notable prevalence of extended working weeks.