Record numbers of Americans have quit their jobs in recent months. In what has been dubbed “The Great Resignation,” one-in-four U.S. workers left their job in 2021. Much of the exodus is being driven by employee burnout, which often results from spending too much time at work.
Partly in an effort to reduce the likelihood of employee burnout, governments and companies are experimenting with four-day workweeks. Following successful trial runs in Iceland and New Zealand, Scotland is set to implement its own four-day workweek trial period, without pay reduction. The Japanese government actively encourages companies to use the four-day workweek model. Here is a look at how long the typical work week is around the world.
In the United States, meanwhile, the five-day workweek remains the norm. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American workers in the 16 to 64 age group usually work an average of 38 hours and 48 minutes per week. But how much time people spend at work could depend on where they live, as in some parts of the country, the typical workweek is far longer.
In the Savannah, Georgia, metro area, the average workweek is 39 hours and 54 minutes in length, the longest of any metro area in the state and one of the longest nationwide.
Like other metro areas with longer than average workweeks, employment opportunities in Savannah appear to be disproportionately full time. An estimated 80.2% of metro area workers are employed in full-time positions, compared to 78.1% of workers nationwide. Savannah’s job market is also relatively strong. Only 2.8% of the local labor force were unemployed as of August 2021, well below the 5.2% U.S. jobless rate.
Metro areas are ranked on mean hours worked per week among full time and part time workers in the 16 to 64 age group with data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. Because working-day length can vary considerably for U.S. service members, metro areas where 10% or more of the labor force are in the military were excluded from analysis. Supplemental data is from both the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the ACS. In the case of a tie, the metro area with the longer average commute time ranked higher.
| Rank | Metro area | Avg. hours worked per week | Avg. commute time (minutes) | Avg. income per capita ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Odessa, TX | 42.8 | 24.5 | 28,582 |
| 2 | Midland, TX | 42.1 | 20.6 | 37,108 |
| 3 | Longview, TX | 41.5 | 24.1 | 28,898 |
| 4 | San Angelo, TX | 41.4 | 20.3 | 29,184 |
| 5 | Casper, WY | 41.2 | 18.3 | 32,934 |
| 6 | Twin Falls, ID | 40.9 | 18.4 | 26,923 |
| 7 | Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, KY | 40.8 | 25.5 | 28,963 |
| 8 | Alexandria, LA | 40.6 | 27.9 | 26,715 |
| 9 | Tyler, TX | 40.6 | 25.9 | 29,053 |
| 10 | Houma-Thibodaux, LA | 40.5 | 26.8 | 27,421 |
| 11 | Grand Island, NE | 40.5 | 20.5 | 29,504 |
| 12 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 40.3 | 30.7 | 35,190 |
| 13 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 40.3 | 27.6 | 38,050 |
| 14 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 40.1 | 28.6 | 36,274 |
| 15 | Anchorage, AK | 40.1 | 23.1 | 38,842 |
| 16 | Hattiesburg, MS | 40.1 | 22.8 | 25,247 |
| 17 | Owensboro, KY | 40.1 | 22.7 | 29,270 |
| 18 | Corpus Christi, TX | 40.1 | 20.9 | 27,286 |
| 19 | Staunton, VA | 40.0 | 22.4 | 30,079 |
| 20 | Amarillo, TX | 40.0 | 21.1 | 28,233 |
| 21 | Sioux Falls, SD | 40.0 | 19.4 | 34,878 |
| 22 | Greeley, CO | 39.9 | 28.3 | 33,863 |
| 23 | Charleston, WV | 39.9 | 24.6 | 28,107 |
| 24 | Savannah, GA | 39.9 | 24.4 | 31,541 |
| 25 | Shreveport-Bossier City, LA | 39.9 | 23.2 | 27,807 |
| 26 | Farmington, NM | 39.9 | 22.8 | 21,626 |
| 27 | Texarkana, TX-AR | 39.9 | 20.7 | 26,165 |
| 28 | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton, SC | 39.8 | 23.3 | 41,421 |
| 29 | Montgomery, AL | 39.8 | 22.5 | 29,094 |
| 30 | Wausau-Weston, WI | 39.8 | 19.6 | 32,924 |
| 31 | Cheyenne, WY | 39.8 | 17.5 | 39,791 |
| 32 | Gainesville, GA | 39.7 | 29.8 | 32,667 |
| 33 | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | 39.7 | 28.1 | 33,131 |
| 34 | Gadsden, AL | 39.7 | 26.2 | 25,065 |
| 35 | Tulsa, OK | 39.7 | 22.2 | 32,380 |
| 36 | Jefferson City, MO | 39.7 | 22.0 | 29,475 |
| 37 | Fond du Lac, WI | 39.7 | 21.2 | 33,847 |
| 38 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA | 39.6 | 32.5 | 37,331 |
| 39 | Hammond, LA | 39.6 | 31.6 | 24,217 |
| 40 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 39.6 | 27.4 | 29,802 |
| 41 | Michigan City-La Porte, IN | 39.6 | 25.6 | 28,484 |
| 42 | Florence, SC | 39.6 | 24.7 | 25,901 |
| 43 | Lebanon, PA | 39.6 | 24.1 | 29,629 |
| 44 | Spartanburg, SC | 39.6 | 23.9 | 27,969 |
| 45 | Oklahoma City, OK | 39.6 | 23.7 | 32,577 |
| 46 | Columbus, GA-AL | 39.6 | 22.2 | 27,286 |
Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square
