In America, the average number of hours people work per week is 40, or at least that is what most people assume. In reality, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), that number is slightly less than 34. This is near the 33-hour OECD average. The county where people work the most is Mexico, at just below 41 hours per week. (Here are the industries laying off the most workers.)
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According to Zippia, Mexico also has the most people who work over 50 hours per week. This is 27% of the nation’s workforce.

Mexico also has the lowest GDP per worker, which is a mystery. The only probable reason is that Mexico has a relatively low gross domestic product and a huge workforce.

With 130 million people, Mexico ranks 10th among all nations when measured by that yardstick. Based on GDP, the country ranks 13 worldwide at $2.4 trillion. However, GDP per capita ranks 90th in the world at just above $19,000.

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A fairly large part of the population, 13%, works in agriculture. In the United States, that figure is under 1%. Agricultural jobs tend to pay poorly there, compared to jobs in services and industry. People in Mexico work hard to maintain an even modest standard of living.

One possible reason Mexicans work so many hours is the number of hours they work without pay. According to News Taco, “The main reason Mexicans spend so much time working is that they do so much unpaid work, more than four hours each day, the highest of all the countries evaluated by the O.E.C.D. Most of that work is housework, especially cooking.”

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