Figures released by the Central Statistics Office this week said that farmers work a 49-hour week. However, a poll by Agriland revels that 72% of farmers say they work more than a 60-hour week.
Of almost 1,500 respondents to the poll, 95% said they spend more than 40 hours a week working on the farm and 72% said they spend more than 60 hours a week working the farm.
The breakdown of this poll revealed that:
- 26% of the responders work more than 80 hours a week
- 47% work 60-80 hours per week
- 23% work 40-60 hours per week
- 5% work 20-40 hours per week
- 1% work 1-20 hours a week per week
The poll was conducted after the release of the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures which showed that farmers work 49.1 hours per week. The average usual working hour a week is 35.8 hours, meaning farmers work the longest hours per week.
The average hours worked per week by farmers includes running the farm, preparing the production for selling, supervising employees, as well as hours spent in commercial and administrative tasks.
The working hours for farmers does not include domestic tasks or hours spent on the farm that is not connected to the agricultural business
The CSO figures also show that people who are self-employed work an average usual hours worked 44.0 hours per week while employees work 34.6 average usual hours per week.
People in part-time employment work an average hour of 19.3 hours per week.
