Prairie workers log most hours: StatsCan

(CBC) - People in the Prairies work the most hours in the country, while Quebecers work the fewest, according to a study released Monday by Statistics Canada.

The study examined how many hours the average person worked in each province in the year 2004. Here's a breakdown of the numbers:

- Alberta - 1,880 hours a year, or 36.2 hours a week.
- Manitoba/Saskatchewan - 1,860 hours, or 35.8 hours a week.
- Ontario - 1,850 hours, or 35.6 hours a week.
- British Columbia - 1,790 hours, or 34.4 hours a week.
- Atlantic provinces - 1,780 hours, or 34.2 hours a week.
- Quebec - 1,750 hours, or 33.7 hours a week.

The study was based on a 2005 telephone survey of 19,500 paid Canadian workers between the ages of 25 and 54.

On the Prairies, 12 per cent of workers reported working very long hours - more than 2,300 hours a year, or 44 hours a week. By comparison, only six per cent of Quebecers reported working that many hours.

"That pushes the total hours of the Prairies on top of other Canadian regions," said economist Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté, one of the Statistics Canada researchers involved in the study.

Alberta's oil workers clock long hours

LaRochelle-Côté said the long hours in Alberta could be linked to the oil industry. He said the industry is flourishing, there's a need for workers and a need for them to work long hours.

"There's a huge labour demand," he told CBC News Online on Monday.

The reasons for the long hours in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are less clear, LaRochelle-Côté said. He said more investigation needs to be done to pinpoint an exact answer.

It could be an array of factors, including a general preference among people in those provinces to work longer hours.

The survey found that 67 per cent of people in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are satisfied with the number of hours they work for the pay they make. More than 28 per cent of people would actually like to work more hours for more pay.

By comparison, 74 per cent of Quebecers are satisfied with the hours they work and 19 per cent would like to work more.

LaRochelle-Côté said the survey could not pinpoint the exact reasons behind Quebecers's low work hours. It could be preference, but it could be an array of other reasons, too, he said.

Quebecers working less than 37 hours

Quebec's numbers skew low because 28 per cent Quebecers report working 1,500 to 1,900 hours a year, or 29 to 37 hours a week.

By comparison, only about 16 per cent of workers in all other Canadian regions report that level of work.

Another 23 per cent of Quebecers work fewer hours - less than 1,500 hours a year, or 29 hours a week.

Canada's coastal regions also have a high number of people working fewer than 29 hours a week. In Atlantic Canada, 26 per cent of people reported working that level of work, while 25 per cent of British Columbians did.

Seasonal work affects Atlantic numbers

LaRochelle-Côté said this could be because of the high level of seasonal work in these provinces, relating to fisheries, for example.

In the case of Ontario, the trend is not to work extremes. Few people report working either more than 44 hours a week or fewer than 29 hours a week.

LaRochelle-Côté said this could be a result of the fact that Ontario is dominated by manufacturing and corporate jobs, which typically have steady hours over the course of the year.

Before this study came along, there were studies about how many hours Canadians work in comparison to people in other countries, LaRochelle-Côté said.

He said others studies have found Canadians work less than Americans, but more than French and Germans.

LaRochelle-Côté said he conducted this study because he and fellow researcher Andrew Heisz wanted to see if numbers were uniform across the country or varied region to region.

the CBC, 2007