People who live in Quebec work less on average than those who live in other Canadian provinces, according to a new report by the Quebec Institute of Statistics. It makes you wonder if people in Quebec are sneaking out a little early or clocking in a little late each week.
The study also found that overall Canadians work fewer hours than Americans.
Researchers examined the 2017 labour market as well as gender and parenthood in the workplace. The team also compared labour and employment rates between Canada and the United States.
Most Canadians work an average of 36 hours per week. Albertans, for example, work on average 37.5 hours a week, while Québécois work just 35.1 hours a week.
Canadians as a whole are working less than Americans—nearly 70 percent of whom work 40 hours a week. Comparatively, only 40 percent of Quebec workers carry out 40-hour work weeks.
Contributing factors for the differences between Americans and Québécois include holidays, parental leave, as well as additional “working time standards” that are more “advantageous” for Quebec workers than Americans, according to the Institute.
While Americans work longer during the week, they benefit from having a higher employment rate, which is attributed to the number of women in the workplace.
The employment rate in Quebec was 60.9 percent in 2017 and included those over the age of 15. When factoring in women, female employment in the province is 57.4 percent—which is actually more than three percentage points higher than the United States.
Even though the general employment rate in the United States is higher than Canada, female employment rates in Quebec are slightly greater than America.
