three questions on the working time of the French after the declarations of Gérald Darmanin

A return to the debate on the 35-hour week? The deputy Together for the Republic (EPR) Gérald Darmanin developed his ideas in the newspaper Les EchosSunday October 6, to significantly reduce public spending. The former Minister of Public Accounts, from 2017 to 2020, advocates increasing working hours.

In particular, it offers “put a definitive end to the 35 hours in the private sector” and of “go to 36 or 37 hours in the public, of course paid accordingly”. The return of an old debate that franceinfo deciphers by taking stock of the working time of the French in three questions.

1 What does the 35 hours correspond to?

In France, the famous 35 hours correspond to the legal duration of work per week. Per month, it is 151.67 hours and 1,607 hours per year. Certain contractual provisions may provide for weekly working hours greater or less than these legal durations. Beyond the legal duration, hours worked are considered overtime.

This legal duration was gradually implemented between 2000 and 2002 under the government of Lionel Jospin. But this threshold is not a limit, in particular because successive laws have greatly relaxed the 35 hours, such as Nicolas Sarkozy’s Tepa law, the El Khomri law under François Hollande, or even the Pénicaud ordinances during the Macron five-year term.

2 What is the real working time of the French today?

To count the work of French people, INSEE uses the usual weekly duration. It corresponds to a normal week without exceptional events (public holiday, leave, etc.) and therefore includes all hours usually worked, including regular overtime. And according to this indicator in 2022, full-time French employees work 38.9 hours, therefore almost four hours more than the legal 35 hours.

However, there are significant disparities depending on the professions of the French. The usual weekly duration for executives is 42.4 hours while it is 37.3 for employees.

Over the year, the French do not seem to be catching up on paid leave. The effective annual working hours of full-time employees is on average 1,664 hours, or 57 hours above the legal annual working hours.

3 Do the French work less than others?

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with 1500 hours per year per worker, France is below the average for so-called developed countries which is 1742 hours. The country remains above countries like Germany (1347), Denmark (1394) or the Netherlands (1415).

But these averages by country can be distorted, in particular by the counting of part-time hours and seasonal work. The OECD specifies that this indicator aims to make comparisons of trends over time and these figures do not make it possible to compare the average volumes of hours worked in a given year due to the disparity of sources and calculation methods. .