Dutch have longest working lives in EU despite part-time culture

The Dutch may be the part-time champions of Europe, but their working lives are also longer than those of any other EU nationals, according to new figures from Eurostat.

The European statistics agency calculates that the Dutch work for an average of 43.8 years, which is six years longer than the average EU resident. The state pension age in the Netherlands is 67.

EU residents work an average of 37.2 years, but more than 40 in six countries, including Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland and the Netherlands. The shortest working lives – at less than 33 years – are in Italy and Romania.

Europeans are, however, working longer. In 2015, the average career lasted less than 35 years and has lengthened steadily since then, with a dip during the coronavirus pandemic.

Women still work an average of 4.2 years fewer than men, although that gap has been shrinking. In the Netherlands, men work an average of 3.9 years longer than women.

More people work part-time in the Netherlands than anywhere else in Europe, although it has the highest net labour participation rate, putting the number of hours worked above the European average.