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“Czechs spend more time at work than any other EU citizens,” headlines Lidové noviny, which reports on the latest Eurostat figures on average working-hours in Europe’s member states. Men working in the Czech Republic spend an average of 42.7 hours per week in the workplace, closely followed by their colleagues in Greece (41.6 hours) and Bulgaria (40.5 hours). The lowest ranked countries are the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, where the working week is just over 37.7 hours -- considerably less than the EU average of 41.8 hours (2007). The Prague daily notes that the figures do not allow for the drawing of definite conclusions about levels of productivity, but it is clear that the average time spent at work has increased over the last two years. In the midst of the economic crisis, workers who are worried about their jobs are spending more time at the office for the same salaries they were earning a few years ago.
