Singapore workers work longest hours, according to this chart from the International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report Update 2009. Only workers in Iceland put in almost as many hours in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.
Real wages also fell at the same time. Though nominal wages rose 4.2 per cent in 2008 according to the Ministry of Manpower, real wages dropped 1 per cent, according to the ILO report. It can be downloaded here.
South Korean workers like those in Singapore are expected to work up to 44 hours a work, but this chart shows they put in fewer hours. Taiwanese workers were the only ones who came close in 2007, but they have also clocked fewer hours since 2008 while the Japanese held constant. Though the report was released recently and quotes International Monetary Fund data from October 2009, the survey does not go beyond the first half of 2009.
The report says:
Overall, out of 13 examples of published statistics on hours worked in 2008 and/or 2009, 11 registered a decline in working time compared to 2007. The average working time among these 13 examples has declined from 39 to 38.2 hours per week. Men and women have both been affected… we find that hours worked by women declined from 36.4 hours to 35.8 while hours worked by men declined from 40.7 hours to 40.0 hours.
According to the ILO report,
Overall, while a majority of countries could maintain declining but positive wage growth in 2008, more than a quarter of countries experienced flat or falling monthly wages in real terms. These countries include the U.S.A. (0.0 %), Austria (0.0 %), Costa Rica (0.0 %), South Africa (–0.3 %), Germany (–0.6 %), Switzerland (–0.7 %), Israel (–0.9 %), Japan (–0.9 %), Singapore (–1.0 %), Mauritius (–1.0 %), Kazakhstan (–1.1 %), the Republic of Korea (–1.5 %), Panama (–2.8 %), Mexico (–3.5 %), Ecuador (–4.1 %), Iceland (–4.8 %), and Seychelles (–15.5 %). Declines of 3.6 per cent and 6.2 per cent were recorded in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, China, respectively.
Wikipedia has an article on working time comparing the number of hours people have to work in different countries.
In Singapore, section 38 of the Employment Act says:
(1) Except as hereinafter provided, an employee shall not be required under his contract of service to work —
(a) more than 6 consecutive hours without a period of leisure;
(b) more than 8 hours in one day or more than 44 hours in one week:
Provided that —
(i) an employee who is engaged in work which must be carried on continuously may be required to work for 8 consecutive hours inclusive of a period or periods of not less than 45 minutes in the aggregate during which he shall have the opportunity to have a meal;
(ii) where, by agreement under the contract of service between the employee and the employer, the number of hours of work on one or more days of the week is less than 8, the limit of 8 hours in one day may be exceeded on the remaining days of the week, but so that no employee shall be required to work for more than 9 hours in one day or 44 hours in one week;
(iii) where, by agreement under the contract of service between the employee and the employer, the number of days on which the employee is required to work in a week is not more than 5 days, the limit of 8 hours in one day may be exceeded but so that no employee shall be required to work more than 9 hours in one day or 44 hours in one week; and
(iv) where, by agreement under the contract of service between the employee and the employer, the number of hours of work in every alternate week is less than 44, the limit of 44 hours in one week may be exceeded in the other week, but so that no employee shall be required to work for more than 48 hours in one week or for more than 88 hours in any continuous period of 2 weeks.
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Unfortunately executives and professionals are not covered by the Employment Act
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