The number of people working "extreme" levels of unpaid overtime soared to almost 900,000 last year, with teachers and lawyers the most likely to put in hours of extra work, the TUC said today.
Its annual survey of working hours showed that the number of people doing more than 10 hours of unpaid overtime a week rose by 14,000 last year. Among teachers and lawyers one in five clocked up an extra 17 hours of free work a week.
One in four public sector employees worked unpaid overtime in 2009, worth almost £9bn a year, compared with one in six in private firms.
As in previous years, single women were found to be most likely to do unpaid overtime, with more than one in four women putting in an average of 7 hours 42 minutes free work a week.
The report noted that unpaid overtime increased despite a rise in the number of people classed as underemployed, which counted those wanting to work longer hours.
The TUC said there was "an obvious mismatch" between the kind of hours people want to work and the kind of hours they are getting.
It has designated that today be Work Your Proper Hours Day after calculating that the average person putting in unpaid overtime would only start being paid from today if they did all the unpaid work at the start of the year. However those clocking up over 10 hours a week wouldn't start being paid until 26 April. ...
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