league

bludger : (Aussie Slang)

Even with four weeks' annual leave, Australians are already the hardest-worked citizens in the Western world. We bear an average workload of 1855 hours a year - more than workers in the United States, Japan or anywhere in Europe.

Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews wants his changes to allow workers to swap two weeks of annual leave for money, but in fact our four weeks is already in the lower half of Western leave levels.

Whether you look at annual leave, public holidays or total working hours, comparison with other Western countries suggests Australian workers are far from being the bludgers we think. Koreans aside, no Westerners spend more time in the office, shop or factory than us.

In a book of statistics, How Australia Compares, Sydney academic Rodney Tiffen and Age columnist Ross Gittins found that Australians have the longest working year of any Western nation for which data is available.

Australians on average work 1855 hours a year, or 38.6 hours a week if you assume they work 48 weeks a year. That Australia also has the West's second highest rate of part-time workers, Tiffen and Gittins add, "makes its position at the top of the league of hard workers even more remarkable".
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[ Give us a break: Australia is hard at work ]