How Many Work Hours Are in a Year – [You Must Know]

Suchi Goswami
June 6, 2023

Key Points
The employees working full-time have to work for 8–9 hours a day and the part-time employees work for 6 hours a day.
The employers offer employee benefit packages which include, supplemental payment, bonus amounts, paid sick leaves, paid time off, medical insurance, etc.
The Federal government regulates the laws formulated for employers’ and employees’ welfare in the US.

Gone are the days when employees used to work for the entire year with very minimal benefits just for the sake of earning money.

In today’s fast-paced world employees are becoming conscious of their careers and taking control of it. Hoping to create a healthy work-life balance they are using tools like investment calculators to estimate their finances, taking care of their bad credit, and building passive income sources.

The work culture has followed the 8-9 working hours in a day rule for centuries now, but have you ever wondered how many work hours in a year? Why is it important to calculate the working hours of a year? So that you can plan your leaves and vacations, take out extra time to learn a hobby, and even calculate your earnings to start pension planning.

Curious to know how many hours you work in a year? Keep on reading this blog till the end, and your bonus is that we have already done all the maths for you.

Table Of Contents

How Many Work Hours in a Year?
How Many Hours is Full-Time Per Year?
Number of Work Hours in a Year – Part-Time
Factors Affecting Number of Work Hours in a Year

Paid Time Off
Sick Leaves
Paid Holiday
Productivity Levels

Government Laws – The Work Hours in a Year
Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Work Hours in a Year?

According to the calendar, there are 52 weeks in a year, and on average, the working days count for 5 per week with a duration of 8 hours which calculates for 40 hours a week. Further, when we multiply 40 hours by 52 weeks, we get a total of 2080 worked hours per year.

So, 2080 hours is the total working hours in a year. Well, now you might wonder how many hours are full time in a year and what are the part-time work hours per year. Let’s get deep into it in the coming sections.

How Many Hours is Full-Time Per Year?

Whether you have an on-site job or a remote job, the working hours in a year remain the same. As already calculated, full-time employment accounts for 40 hours every week, meaning a full-time employee works for 2080 hours as full-time hours per year.

In terms of how much one can make working full-time hours per year. Let’s take $7.25 per hour, which is the minimum wage, and multiply it by 2080 hours worked per year, on average, the person earns $15,080 annually. But the thing is that it is rarely possible to work for the entire year as it is very human to take time off, go on vacation, and fall sick, which accounts for the loss of full-time hours per year, leading to subtraction in annual income.

However, it also depends on your employer and company benefits, as many companies provide paid vacation leaves, paid sick leaves, and overtime payments. All these perks can differ from company to company, leading to different annual incomes and the number of worked hours in a year for each individual. So we have talked about full-time hours a year, but what about people having part-time employment? Let’s find out in the next section.

Number of Work Hours in a Year – Part-Time

Part-time employment generally takes up 4–5 hours in a day, making it around 20–25 hours in a week and 1040–1300 hours in a work year. So with these numbers, you can easily calculate your earnings depending on your hourly income and the number of work hours in a year. This number will differ for every person, depending on their job schedule and hourly pay. Also, if you have much time on your hands, you can also start an online business on a low budget.

We have now calculated the full-time and part-time working hours in a year. Let’s move ahead to see the different factors affecting the number of worked hours for a year and annual income in the next section.

Factors Affecting Number of Work Hours in a Year

Statistically, no employee works for the calculated 2080 hours in a work year because of many factors, which we will discuss further. However, the point to note is that these factors will eventually fluctuate your working hours in a year but may or may not affect your annual income, depending on your employee benefit package.

1. Paid Time Off

Paid time off, or PTO is given by 97% of companies to their employees. The number of days off varies depending on the company’s sector. This is an additional benefit provided with employment to boost the employee’s motivation for work, in which you can take some time off from your total worked hours of a year to go on vacation or to take rest.

2. Sick Leaves

The companies have two types of sick leave policies:

A) Paid sick leave, in which the employee gets paid for leaves taken to recover from the illness. A full-time worker, on average, gets 8-10 paid sick leaves from full-time hours per year, and a part-time worker gets 6-7 paid sick leaves in a year.

B) Unpaid sick leaves, in which the employee is allowed to take leaves to recover from any illness, provide care for family members, or welcome any newborn. This leave may get approved into the paid leaves section depending on the situation and case of the employee.

3. Paid Holiday

According to the Federal Government, these are the days observed as national holidays:

New Year’s Day
Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
Inauguration Day
Washington’s Birthday
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day

As these days are marked as national holidays, the companies provide paid holidays to every employee all over the United States.

4. Productivity Levels

Well, we count this as a factor determining how many working hours in a year. According to many surveys, not every employee is productive for the full 8 hours of the workday. On average, the employees work for 5–6 hours with focus. So considering this factor, you are getting paid for the time you don’t work each day. In these situations, when you don’t feel like working during your work hours, you can take advantage of the employee training assessment tools that can help you boost your skill set.

These are the factors that determine your total work hours per year. As an employee, you get a bundle of benefits from your employer, which include – National holidays, personal leaves, vacations off, sick leaves, and supplemental overtime payment. So keeping these things in mind, you can calculate how many days you work in a year from a total of 2080 working hours in a year. After calculating your total income, it is recommended to meet a financial advisor to plan your retirement planning to make your future financially secure.

For employer and employee welfare, the government has many laws that need to be abided by everyone. Let’s learn more about these laws in the coming section.

Fast Fact: Many Silicon Valley companies provide unlimited paid time off to the employees to refresh and rejuvenate to rejoin work feeling motivated.

Government Laws – The Work Hours in a Year

The Fair Labor standard act states that the US government does not differentiate between full-time and part-time employment. It is only determined by the employer. According to this act, the employees must receive at least the minimum wage for 40 hours per week, and if it exceeds, the employee should get one or one-half of their regular wage for overtime hours.

The Family and Medical Leave Act states that employees get up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year in cases of medical emergencies and family care.

As per the Fair Labor Standard Act, sick leaves and paid holidays are the agreement between the employee and the company. These perks may differ from one employer to another. Also, it does not have any rules for part-time employment and its perks.

Fast Fact: Many companies organize a paid trip for the employees and also redeem the payment if the employee does not take all the allotted leaves.