How many hours you work a week?

Singapore's workers continue to lead the pack when it comes to the number of hours they put in at work, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The report puts them at the top of 13 economies in the group's Global Wages Report for 2008-09, surpassing even the notoriously hardworking Japanese and Taiwanese. The report showed data for 2007 and compared it with that of 2008 and the first quarter of last year, when the global recession was at its worst. The ILO report did not specify the exact numbers but a check with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) put working hours here at 45.9 hours a week for 2008 and the first quarter of last year. In 2007, the figure was 46.3 hours.

Under the Employment Act, the limit on working hours is 44 hours a week or eight hours a day. Beyond this, workers are entitled to 1.5 times their hourly rate of pay. The working hours do not include a tea break or lunchtime. This applies only to workmen earning less than S$4,500 (RM10,800), or other employees drawing less than US$2,000 a month. The MOM said workers here did an average of about three hours of overtime a week in the beginning of last year. This increased progressively to 3.6 hours towards the end of September, as the economy began to pick up.