Working Hours Statistics: Weekdays and Weekends
Published September 15, 2026 · StatsGalore
Full-time employed people's average on days worked [1]
Full-time employed people worked an average of 8.1 hours on days they worked in 2025. Their average was 8.5 hours on weekdays worked and 5.5 hours on weekend days worked. Separately, BLS found that employed people were much more likely to work on a weekday than on a weekend day. [1]
The numbers
| Measure | 2025 result | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time workers: hours on all days worked | 8.1 hours | [1] |
| Full-time workers: hours on weekdays worked | 8.5 hours | [1] |
| Full-time workers: hours on weekend days worked | 5.5 hours | [1] |
| All employed people: worked on an average weekday | 81% | [1] |
| All employed people: worked on an average weekend day | 30% | [1] |
Hours worked and usual hours are different
A time diary describes work actually recorded on a particular day. It differs from a question about the hours a person usually works each week or the hours attached to an employment contract.
The headline estimate is conditional on having worked that day. Days off are not included as zero-hour days in that particular average. Multiplying the figure by every day of the year would therefore overstate the implied amount of work.
[1]Why weekdays and weekends need separate measures
The weekday and weekend duration averages answer how long full-time employed people worked when they worked. The participation percentages answer how often all employed people worked on each type of day.
Those rows use different populations. The duration figures concern full-time workers, while the participation figures concern employed people more broadly. Keeping the labels visible prevents an attractive but invalid combination of the numbers.
[1]A weekend worker is not necessarily an overtime worker
Working on a weekend can be part of a regular schedule. The table does not establish whether weekend hours were overtime, whether they attracted a pay premium, or whether the worker also worked during the week.
The national averages combine jobs with very different schedules. Retail, hospitality, care, transport, and other activities do not necessarily follow a conventional weekday pattern. The figures should not be interpreted as a universal working week.
[1]Turning averages into useful comparisons
For a fair comparison, match employment status, day type, and whether non-working days are included. A short average across all calendar days can coexist with long shifts on days actually worked.
These statistics describe time allocation. They do not measure productivity, hourly pay, workload intensity, or job satisfaction. Those outcomes require additional evidence and cannot be inferred directly from the duration of recorded work.
[1]Sources & notes
Source: BLS American Time Use Survey—2025 Results and Table 4. Duration and participation rows have different denominators. Full-time classification and diary-day hours are separate concepts.
The 2025 ATUS did not collect diaries for September 30–November 11 during the federal shutdown. Under the existing weighting method, later fourth-quarter diaries represent the missing days as well. See the BLS collection notice before making year-to-year comparisons.
Source review: 2026-09-15. Article publication and underlying data dates are separate. How we use statistics · Suggest a correction