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Good Question: How Much Do We Work?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - When it comes to our jobs, how much do we work?

Depending on the source, the average American full-time worker is working 42-and-a-half to 47 hours a week.

"We say a full-time job is 40 hours a week but people are, in fact, working a lot more than that," said Jenny Keil, a professor of management at Hamline University. "The U.S. culture is very work driven. People find their identity tied up in their job."

About 20 percent of workers are part-time, and 80 percent are full-time.

And when you compare all workers across countries, we log more hours than Europe but fewer than South Korea.

We might work slightly less in the summer. Fourteen percent of companies report offering summer hours.

While a quarter of workers get no paid time off, the average for employees with one year on the job is eight holidays, eight sick days and 10 vacation days. After 15 years, those figures jump to eight, nine and 17.

But half of those employees don't take all of their time off.

About half of people don't take all of their paid time off. And about a third say they frequently check in with work after-hours.

Experts say that further blurs the line between on-the-clock and off-hours.

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