Average Work Hours per Week in the US (2026): 42.5 Hours — BLS Data

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Data snapshot (free to cite with attribution)

42.5 hours/week — average hours worked by full-time US employees (BLS American Time Use Survey, 2024 release) 40 hours — the FLSA weekly overtime threshold ~2.5 hours — average weekly hours above the threshold, owed at 1.5× for non-exempt workers 45 hrs — highest industry average (mining & utilities); 33 hrs — lowest (leisure & hospitality) ~44–46 hrs — salaried exempt workers; ~40–42 hrs — hourly non-exempt workers

Sources: BLS American Time Use Survey · BLS Current Employment Statistics (weekly hours) · DOL FLSA Overtime

Journalists and researchers: these figures come from the official BLS releases linked above; cite this page as a plain-English summary, or link to bls.gov directly for the raw tables.

What the BLS Data Shows

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS) tracks how Americans spend their working hours. The 2024 release reports full-time workers log an average of 42.5 hours per week on the job, about 2.5 hours above the 40-hour FLSA threshold that triggers overtime for non-exempt employees.

Men average roughly 43 hours per week; women average about 41 hours. Part of the gap reflects different industry mix, part-time participation, and caregiving loads, but the gap has narrowed over the last decade as more women enter higher-hour industries.

The “at work” figure includes paid breaks but excludes unpaid meal periods. Workers who regularly skip lunch push the real number higher than the survey captures.

The 40-Hour Federal Baseline

Under the FLSA, 40 hours is the single-workweek threshold. Hours worked beyond 40 in one workweek must be paid at 1.5x the regular rate for non-exempt employees. A workweek is a fixed, recurring 168-hour period, it does not have to align with the calendar week, and employers cannot average hours across two workweeks to dodge overtime.

At $20/hour, those 2.5 average overtime hours are worth $75 per week in premium pay ($20 x 1.5 x 2.5), or about $3,900 per year if the pattern holds every week. At $25/hour the annual figure climbs to roughly $4,875.

Hours by Industry

Industry mix explains most of the variation:

• Mining and utilities: ~45 hours/week
• Manufacturing: ~42 hours/week
• Professional and business services: ~43 hours/week
• Construction: ~41 hours/week
• Education and health services: ~41 hours/week
• Retail trade: ~38 hours/week
• Leisure and hospitality: ~33 hours/week

Leisure and hospitality sits well below 40 because the sector is heavy on part-time staff and variable shifts. Mining and utilities consistently run above 40, often with scheduled overtime built into shift rotations. Manufacturing swings with demand cycles, and production surges can push weekly averages into the high 40s.

Hours by Occupation

Within industries, hours vary by role:

• Managers and professionals: ~44 hours/week
• Service occupations: ~38 hours/week
• Sales and office occupations: ~39 hours/week
• Natural resources, construction, and maintenance: ~42 hours/week
• Production, transportation, and material moving: ~42 hours/week

Managers and professionals trend higher partly because many are exempt, so the FLSA overtime rules do not apply and there is no payroll brake on long hours. Effective May 15, 2026, the federal exempt salary threshold is $684/week ($35,568/year), so salaried staff paid below that line are non-exempt and entitled to overtime regardless of title.

Salaried vs Hourly Workers

Hourly non-exempt workers average about 40 to 42 hours per week, with overtime padding the higher end. Salaried exempt workers average closer to 44 to 46 hours, because there is no payroll penalty for the employer when they exceed 40. The crossover point matters: a worker misclassified as exempt below the $684/week threshold is owed back overtime for every hour over 40.

Post-Pandemic Trend

Average weekly hours have trended slightly down since 2019. Remote and hybrid work, combined with a tighter labor market, has reduced unscheduled overtime for many office workers. Frontline and production roles have been less affected because their hours are set by shift schedules rather than individual workload.

The decline is modest, about 0.5 hours per week on average, and concentrated in office-based occupations. Industries with scheduled overtime, such as utilities and manufacturing, have stayed flat.

Overtime Implications

For non-exempt employees, anything above 40 hours in the workweek is overtime, even if the employer calls it “comp time” or expects off-the-clock work. Workers averaging 42.5 hours are owed 2.5 hours of overtime each week under federal law. Several states add daily overtime triggers: California (over 8/day and 40/week), Alaska (over 8/day or 40/week), and Nevada (over 8/day or 40/week without benefits).

The FLSA statute of limitations is two years for regular violations and three years for willful ones, so unrecorded overtime can compound into significant back-pay liability over time.

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