The average number of working years in the European Union is 36, according to the forecasts of the European Statistical Office Eurostat. The Netherlands is therefore more than six years above that.
The fact that the Netherlands is at the top has everything to do with the abolition of early retirement and the postponement of the state pension age, says economist Leontine Treur of Rabobank. As a result, the employment rate of people over 60 has risen sharply.
Southern countries at the bottom
The differences between the 27 countries are remarkable. They work longest in the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. Southern countries like Italy, Spain and Greece are at the bottom of the list. It may also be the case that many more hours per week are worked in these countries than in the countries that top the list, but that is not included now.
Treur indicates that there is a good chance that when it comes to the number of working hours in life, the Netherlands would be a lot lower.
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According to Treur, the Dutch are ‘champions’: “We don’t work many hours a week, but we do work well into old age. Our preference for working part-time is mainly culturally determined, but also partly due to our tax and allowance system, which means that it is not possible to work part-time. it always pays to work more hours.”
Treur indicates that the Dutch man works an average of 35 hours a week and the woman 26, on balance quickly half a day less than, for example, in Belgium. “Part-time working women and men are pushing our average down considerably.” The labor participation rate is very high in our country, which is included in the Eurostat figures.
Differences men and women
Besides the difference between countries in expected working years, there are also large differences between men and women.
On average, men in the EU work four years longer than women. In the Netherlands, the difference is also about the same. In some countries this difference is much greater, such as in Italy where the gap is nine years.
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It is striking that in Lithuania women work slightly longer than men. In recent years, much has been done in that country to reduce labor inequality.
Catching up in the Netherlands
Incidentally, women have also caught up in the past 20 years in the Netherlands. In 2001 the difference between men and women in working years was still more than seven, now slightly more than four years.
Treur indicates that this has to do with the strongly increased education level of women. “The generation of women who were less educated than men are now approaching retirement age. The women who are now working are on average just as highly educated as men, and even higher in the youngest groups.”
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