Working hours per worker have declined after the Industrial Revolution

The chart shows that the average worker in wealthy countries now works only about half as many hours per year as in the late 19th century.

Based on data from economic historians Michael Huberman and Chris Minns, the average worker used to work between 2,700 and 3,500 hours per year, which is about 50 to 70 hours each week.

Recently, using data from the Penn World Table, workers worked about half that amount, between 1,300 and 1,800 hours a year, or about 25 to 35 hours a week. This decrease has come from working fewer hours each day, fewer days each week, and fewer weeks each year.