Pupils following a teacher in a school yard in Sotkamo, Kainuu, in May 2020. Statistics on working times may not reflect, for example, the preparatory work many teachers do at home, a senior statistician at Statistics Finland reminded Helsingin Sanomat. (Kimmo Rauatmaa – Str / Lehtikuva)
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FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES in the municipal sector have on average 22 fewer workdays, or 165 fewer working hours, a year than employees in the private sector, reveal data released as part of the labour market survey of Statistics Finland.
Employees of the central administration, similarly, spend considerably less time at work than those in the private sector, the difference standing at 12.5 days or 94 hours, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The data reveal that working times are the longest in the private sector, with the average work week having 40 hours and 54 minutes in the agriculture, fishery and forestry segments and 40 hours and 48 minutes in the transport and warehouse segments.
The private sector, however, also has segments with relatively short weeks: regular weekly working time is 35 hours and 48 minutes in the education segment and 36 hours in the accommodation and restaurant segment.
“There are loads of differences in regular weekly working hours between segments within the private sector. But there are also differences in regular weekly working hours between people employed under different working-hour arrangements,” Merja Kauhanen, a senior labour market expert at the Labour Institute for Economic Research (Labore), told Helsingin Sanomat in November.
Tatu Leskinen, a senior statistician at Statistics Finland, reminded that the totals may not reflect all work done by employees.
“For example, teachers in the municipal sector do a lot of preparatory work at home, and you could ask how exhaustively that’s reported when we ask them about working hours,” he elaborated to the newspaper.
Kauhanen estimated that there are three explanations for the divide in working times between private and public sector employees: holidays, sick leaves and overtime – the first likely being the most consequential.
Underlying this are legislation and collective bargaining agreements.
In the public sector, the duration of holidays depends on years of service, with employees with a minimum of 15 years of service entitled to 38 days of holiday. Also the accounting of holiday weeks differs between the public and private sector, the former not counting and the latter counting Saturdays.
Leskinen from Statistics Finland reminded that public sector employees are typically required to take holidays, whereas private sector employees are more likely to opt instead for monetary compensation. The same dynamic also extends to overtime practices.
“The public sector isn’t as well placed to pay for overtime than the public sector,” he explained to Helsingin Sanomat.
Also sick leaves can contribute to the chasm between working times in the public and private sectors. The municipal sector has a high number of health care employees, who statistically have more sick leaves than average, said Kauhanen.
“If you deal a lot with people in a hospital or school, for example, you’re more predisposed to infections especially when you’re working in person,” she elaborated.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
