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Study With Data from 160 Countries Compares Weekly Hours of Paid Work and Shows Brazil Below Global Average in 2022 and 2023.
Ranking changes when productivity, demographics, taxes, and transfers are included, indicating that work hours reflect distinct combinations of income, age, and public policies.
Workers around the world dedicated an average of 42.7 hours per week to paid work in 2022 and 2023.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the average workweek was 40.1 hours, according to a survey by economist Daniel Duque, researcher at FGV Ibre.
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The study is based on an international database that gathers information from 160 countries and covers about 97% of the global population.
With this, the comparison reaches economies with different income levels, age structures, and employment formats.
Hours Worked in the World and in Brazil
To reach the estimates, Duque used an international database on hours worked created by economists Amory Gethin from the World Bank and Emmanuel Saez from the University of California in Berkeley.
The database was built from harmonized household surveys.
This compilation includes labor force surveys and surveys conducted in different countries.
The data was consolidated by organizations and structures such as the ILO and databases from the World Bank, as well as datasets produced in Europe, standardized to approximate definitions.
Global Data Base and International Coverage
The database organized by Gethin and Saez became available starting in November 2025.
The authors presented it as an effort to harmonize thousands of surveys, forming a kind of global microbase of hours worked.
In the article describing the project, the economists note that, in addition to the snapshot for 160 countries, there are also long series of over two decades for 87 countries.
This selection allows for observing changes over time.
Ranking of Brazil in Hours Worked
When the comparison is limited to countries with historical series of more than 20 years, Brazil appears in 38th place in hours worked among 86 nations.
According to the cited survey, this places the country in the middle of the table.
However, the ranking changes when the study incorporates what would be the “expected” hours for each country based on productivity and demographics.
This adjustment makes Brazil drop to 60th place among 85 nations considered at this stage.
Taxes, Transfers, and Social Protection in the Calculation
Another layer of analysis adds taxes and transfers, such as pensions and minimum income benefits.
The goal is to compare the observed work hours with the trend suggested by productivity, demographics, and social protection arrangements in different countries.
With this expanded set of factors, Brazil appears in 53rd place among 76 countries, still according to the published survey.
The result indicates that the ranking is not fixed and depends on the model adopted to weigh different national contexts.
Productivity and Working Hours in Different Phases
Productivity is identified as the feature that best explains the number of hours worked globally.
Still, the relationship does not follow a straight line, as changes in income and economic structure alter the weight of labor in each phase.
As countries move from low levels to middle income, the workweek tends to increase.
On the other hand, richer economies with consolidated consumption start to reduce hours.
In this scenario, free time gains importance even with increasing productivity.
Economic Development and Age Differences
In the technical text that presents the global database, the authors describe that hours worked per adult exhibit a “slightly bell-shaped” behavior when compared to GDP per capita.
They also note that the correlation with development is weak overall.
When detailing by age group, work among youth aged 15 to 19 and seniors aged 60 and over declines with development.
This shift is associated with increased school attendance and greater pension coverage in various countries.
Formal Market, Rules, and Tax Effects
Still in the study by Gethin and Saez, taxes on labor appear to be strongly associated with fewer hours among adults of working age.
The authors discuss that part of this link relates to the advancement of formal work and rules regarding work hours.
This type of result helps explain why simple comparisons, based only on the average hours, can mask different mechanisms behind the same number.
Regulation, sectoral composition, and social protection do not advance at the same pace.
What the Weekly Average Does Not Show Alone
The average weekly work hours, by itself, does not distinguish how many people work, in which sectors they are, or how many hold multiple jobs.
The global database itself seeks to harmonize definitions to compare hours in activities that enter into GDP.
Therefore, the debate over what it means to “work less” depends on criteria.
Among these are the considered age, the design of the tax and benefits system, and the level of productivity, elements that Duque’s survey incorporates when recalculating positions.
While Brazil appears below the global average in paid hours in 2022 and 2023, the comparison proposed by the study indicates that the interpretation changes when the country is placed alongside peers with similar productivity and demographic structure.
In a scenario where international data allows for finer cuts on work hours, age, and public policies, what type of comparison do you consider fairer to discuss how much Brazilians actually work?
Começou a temporada de “notícias” vindas de “pesquisas aleatórias pagas pelo patronato brasileiro…