Over 42% of Chinese employees work overtime: report

(ECNS) -- A recent report shows 42.2 percent of Chinese employees worked overtime in 2017, with the average schedule exceeding eight hours.

Researchers from Inner Mongolia University have studied the usage of time among 30,591 people in 12,471 families across 29 provinces and municipalities throughout China.

Low-income earners, people with lower education, and workers in the manufacturing and production sectors were found to work more extra time, as high as 58.8 percent for those employed in manufacturing.

Du Fenglian, the project's lead researcher and also dean of the Economics and Management School at Inner Mongolia University, said she was surprised to find such a high percentage of overtime work.

She added the study found Chinese women are spending more time at home and less time working, a trend also observed in South Korea and Japan.

A previous study by travel website Mafengwo said 88 percent of white collar workers had to work during their vacation.