The Maltese have the second highest number of annual holidays in the EU, but spend longer hours at work than the European average, according to a study published in Brussels.
The study shows that together with Denmark, Maltese workers last year enjoyed 37 days of holidays. Combining annual leave and public holidays (a total of 296 hours a year), Malta ranked second in the EU, surpassed only by German workers who enjoyed 301.6 annual hours of holidays. Denmark and Italy ranked third and fourth.
The study was carried out by the EU’s working conditions agency – Eurofound in 2010.
Ironically, despite the high number of holidays, Germany and Denmark are considered to have two of the strongest economies in the EU. On the other hand, Malta still lags behind the EU GDP average, while Italy is engulfed with massive debts.
On the other side of the rankings, the member states whose working population enjoyed the least holidays last year were the Romanians with just 27 days of combined leave. The combined leave in the EU last year amounted to 34.4 days.
The study also compares other aspects of working conditions among the 27 member states.
With regard to the ‘normal’ statutory working week, Maltese workers are among the highest ranking, with a 40-hour working week considered to be the minimum. This is higher than the EU average of 38 hours in 2010, with the shortest average working week being reported in France with 35.6 hours.
Significant differences also exist where vacation leave and public holidays are concerned.
The average total of annual vacation leave enjoyed by EU workers last year stood at 24.8 days, higher than Malta’s 24 days. German workers had the most, 30 days of statutory annual leave, while the lowest levels of annual leave are granted in Belgium, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia, all with a maximum of 20 working days of leave.
But Malta makes up for the shortfall with public holidays. Malta had 13 days of public holidays last year, surpassed only by Spain, which had 14 days.
The EU’s average of public holidays last year stood at 9.6 days, with the Dutch having the least – five days.
Malta is also the only EU member state with five national holidays.
Yet, when combining everything together (annual leave, public holidays, working week), the report showed Maltese workers last year spent 1,784 hours at their workplaces – more than the EU average of 1,714.9 hours.
Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian workers were by far the hardest workers in the EU in 2010. On the other hand, workers in France, Denmark and Germany spent the least time working. Overall, Maltese workers ranked 11th among the 27 member states.