Working overtime should be extra compensated. But this international standard is not adhered to. This is the main outcome of a comparison between 23 countries, based on 190,000 wage data, volunteered by Wage Indicator web visitors in 2009 and 2010. Our survey indicates that 4 out of 10 employees in 2010 worked more hours than previously agreed in their contracts. From this group of overtime workers, just 1.3 per cent received additional compensation. Similarly, in 2009 four out of ten employees did overwork, but only 1.1 per cent of them were rewarded for their extra efforts. This picture emerges in almost all countries reviewed, regardless of region or level of development. In cannot be concluded however, based on our latest data from 2009 and 2010, that the present recession overall has led to significantly increased working hours without proper compensation.
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Perinelli, B., Beker, V.A. (2011). Overtime does not pay. A comparative analysis of wages in 23 countries in times of recession. Quarterly Wage Indicator report – December 2010. Amsterdam: WageIndicator Foundation. (1.7 MB)