Usual weekly working hours

Information on wage and salary earners' regular weekly working hours is usually collected in connection with wage inquiries. Regular weekly working hours are based on the Working Hours Act and are often in line with a specific working time system or working time mode. Sometimes regular weekly working hours can be agreed on separately and they may differ from the general working time of the industry. In the case of teachers, regular weekly working hours equal the number of hours on which weekly pay is based.

In the private sector, regular weekly working hours must average out to 40 hours per week within a reference period defined in the collective agreement. For public sector wage and salary earners with office working hours, average weekly working hours are 36.25 hours a week, and for those with general working hours 38.25 hours a week.

In structural statistics on wages and salaries, the regular 40-hour week of workers in industries which pay hourly wages has been shortened with industry-specific solutions, according to the so called "pekkassopimus". The basic consideration has been to secure the earlier income level. The shortening of working time with separate days off has been taken into account in determining regular weekly working hours in such a way that the regular weekly working hours for workers with a 40-hour week are 37.89 hours. The shortening of the working time of municipal hourly wage earners has been executed by shortening regular weekly working hours, not by adding paid or unpaid days off.

Regular wages are based on regular weekly working hours. Cf. Regular wages

Cf. Total working hours