No — the 40-hour work week is an American benchmark, not a global one. Statutory work weeks in other countries range from 35 hours in France to 48 hours in Mexico, and many nations regulate hours through collective agreements rather than a single national number. Where you work shapes not only how long your week runs but whether the law caps it at all.
Where the 40-Hour Idea Came From
The 40-hour standard grew out of 19th-century labor campaigns for “eight hours for work, eight for rest, and eight for personal time.” In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 fixed 40 hours as the point at which most covered employees earn time-and-a-half overtime.1U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 23 – Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA The International Labour Organization endorsed a 40-hour week internationally in Convention No. 47 in 1935, but only about two dozen countries have formally ratified it.2International Labour Organisation. C47 Forty-Hour Week Convention 1935 Most countries wrote their own rules, and they landed all over the map.
One point worth flagging up front: the FLSA does not actually cap American work weeks. It requires overtime pay past 40 hours but sets no ceiling on how many hours an employer can schedule. Several countries covered below do set a hard ceiling, which is a meaningful legal difference.
Countries with Shorter Weeks Than 40 Hours
France: 35 Hours
France legislates the lowest standard week among major economies. The Aubry law, enacted in 2000, set the statutory threshold at 35 hours for private companies. Anything beyond that counts as overtime, paid at a 25 percent premium for the first eight extra hours and 50 percent after that.
French contracts often call for more than 35 hours on paper, but workers earn “RTT” days (réduction du temps de travail) to bring their annual total back to 1,607 hours or below. Someone working 37 hours a week accumulates roughly 12 RTT days a year; at 38 hours, about 18.3Service Public. In the Public Service Do You Lose RTTs if You Are Absent The extra hours come back as time off spread across the year.
Denmark: 37 Hours by Agreement
Denmark has no general statute dictating weekly hours. The standard 37-hour week is set through collective agreements between employer organizations and unions, and it’s written directly into public-sector employment terms.4Business in Denmark. Working Hours – Employment and Dismissal The Danish model relies on high union coverage instead of a national law on hours.
Norway: 40 by Law, 37.5 in Practice
Norway’s Working Environment Act allows up to nine hours a day and 40 hours a week, but collective agreements covering most workers reduce the effective standard to 37.5 hours.5regjeringen.no. Working Hours and Holidays in Norway Shift and night workers face statutory limits of 36 to 38 hours.6Arbeidstilsynet. Working Hours
Germany: Daily Limits Instead of Weekly Ones
Germany’s Working Hours Act regulates the day rather than the week. A workday cannot exceed eight hours, though it can stretch to 10 as long as the six-month average stays at eight. Because Germany’s law still assumes a six-day tradition, the paper ceiling is 48 hours, but collective agreements and five-day schedules keep most full-time workers between 38 and 40 hours. Germany consistently ranks among the lowest countries in actual annual hours worked.
Countries with Longer Weeks Than 40 Hours
Mexico: 48 Hours
Mexico’s Constitution and Federal Labor Law set the standard work week at 48 hours across six eight-hour shifts. Overtime pays double the normal rate for the first nine extra hours per week and triple after that. Workers get one paid rest day for every six consecutive days worked. A constitutional reform to lower the standard to 40 hours across five days has been under legislative debate; as of early 2026 it has not been enacted, and the 48-hour rule still applies.
Turkey: 45 Hours
Turkish Labor Law No. 4857 caps the standard week at 45 hours, with overtime paid at a 50 percent premium. Total overtime cannot exceed 270 hours a year, roughly five extra hours per week if spread evenly.7Anti-Slavery Law. 4857 Labor Law English By Article – Section: Chapter 4 Organization of Work Workers can take compensatory time off instead of overtime pay, at one hour and 30 minutes off per overtime hour.
Colombia: Phasing Down to 42
Colombia is stepping down from a 48-hour maximum under Law 2101 of 2021. The schedule cut the week to 47 hours in July 2023, 46 in July 2024, 44 in July 2025, and 42 in July 2026. Employers are barred from reducing wages to offset the shorter hours.
The EU’s Regional Ceiling
Across the European Union, Directive 2003/88/EC sets a binding maximum of 48 hours per week on average, including overtime, calculated over a reference period of up to four, six, or 12 months depending on the country.8European Commission. Working Time Directive Individual workers can opt out where their country allows it, but only voluntarily and with no penalty for refusing. Member states are free to legislate stricter limits, and most do — the 48-hour figure functions as a floor no EU country’s law can breach, not as the norm anyone actually works.
Why the Statutory Number Often Isn’t the Real One
A country’s legal work week can differ sharply from what workers actually put in. Part-time rates, cultural pressure, enforcement, and off-the-books hours all pull the average away from the statute.
The Netherlands: 40 on Paper, Far Less in Practice
The Dutch Working Time Act permits up to 40 hours per week.9Business.gov.nl. Working Hours Act Yet the Netherlands records some of the lowest actual hours in the developed world, largely because nearly 40 percent of Dutch workers hold part-time positions — the highest rate in the OECD. Dutch part-time contracts carry full legal protections and are commonly a lifestyle choice rather than a mark of underemployment.
Japan: Caps That Fight Culture
Japan’s Work Style Reform legislation, enacted in 2018, produced the country’s first legally binding overtime cap: 45 hours a month and 360 hours a year as a baseline. Special labor-management agreements can raise the ceiling to 100 hours in a single month and 720 hours a year, and the two-to-six-month rolling average cannot exceed 80 hours.10Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training. Work Style Reform Bill Enacted Many Japanese workers still perform unpaid “service overtime” beyond their logged hours. Japan uses the term “karoshi,” death from overwork, for the most severe consequences.
South Korea: 52-Hour Ceiling, Uneven Enforcement
South Korea cut its maximum allowable work week from 68 to 52 hours (40 standard plus 12 overtime) starting in 2018. The share of workers exceeding 52 hours has fallen, but gaps remain in service and arts jobs, at companies with fewer than five employees, and in certain age brackets.11PMC (PubMed Central). Working Hours and the Regulations in Korea South Korean workers still average substantially more annual hours than the OECD norm.
The United States
American workers face no federal ceiling on weekly hours, no mandatory paid vacation, and no guaranteed rest periods. OECD data puts average annual hours in the US at roughly 1,790, compared to about 1,340 in Germany.12OECD. Average Annual Hours Actually Worked per Worker That gap works out to more than 11 additional 40-hour weeks per year.
Newer Rules That Affect How Long People Really Work
Right to Disconnect
Statutory limits mean less when work follows you home on your phone. France was the first major economy to legislate a right to disconnect, requiring companies with more than 50 employees to negotiate policies on after-hours digital contact. Belgium, Italy, Spain, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Slovakia have passed their own versions, and Ireland has issued an official code of practice.13Eurofound. Do We Really Have the Right to Disconnect
Australia joined in 2024, letting employees of non-small businesses refuse contact outside working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable. Small business employees gained the same protection in August 2025. Whether a refusal is unreasonable depends on factors including the reason for the contact, the employee’s role and level of responsibility, and whether they receive compensation for being available.14Fair Work Ombudsman. Right to Disconnect The United States has no federal right-to-disconnect law.
The Four-Day Week
Belgium passed legislation in 2022 letting full-time employees compress a standard week into four days instead of five. It’s a compression, not a reduction: a 38-hour contract becomes four 9.5-hour days. Pilot programs in the United Kingdom, Iceland, and elsewhere have tested genuine reductions to a 32-hour week at full pay, with generally positive reports on productivity and satisfaction, but no major economy has yet mandated a four-day week with reduced total hours.