Average weekly working hours by profession (bar chart)

The bar chart compares the average number of hours worked per week by five different professions.

Overall, doctors worked the longest hours of the five professions, while retail staff worked the fewest. The differences between the professions were fairly gradual rather than very large.

Doctors had the highest average, working 52 hours per week. Lawyers were in second place with 48 hours, followed by engineers at 44 hours per week.

The last two professions worked noticeably shorter weeks. Teachers worked 40 hours on average, while retail staff had the lowest figure at 38 hours per week. The gap between the profession with the longest hours and the one with the shortest hours was therefore 14 hours.

The bar chart shows the average number of hours worked per week by five different professions.

Overall, there is a clear divide between the professions, with those in medicine and law working the longest hours, while retail staff and teachers work the fewest. The gap between the highest and lowest figures is fairly substantial.

Doctors work the longest week by a clear margin, averaging 52 hours. Lawyers are next, at 48 hours per week, meaning that these two professions each work considerably more than a standard full-time schedule.

The remaining three occupations cluster more closely together at the lower end of the scale. Engineers average 44 hours per week, placing them in the middle of the group. Teachers work notably fewer hours, at 40 per week, while retail staff record the shortest working week of all, at 38 hours. The difference between the busiest profession, doctors, and the least busy, retail staff, amounts to 14 hours per week, showing that working hours vary significantly depending on the type of job.