Weekly Hours Stayed in a Narrow Range
Average weekly hours stayed mostly stable from 2015 to 2025. Unlike unemployment claims or earnings, this chart does not show a dramatic long-term surge.
In 2015, average weekly hours were 34.53 hours. By 2025, they were 34.21 hours, only slightly lower over the full period.
The Highest Point Came in 2021
The highest value in the chart is 2021, when average weekly hours reached 34.83 hours. That was the only year where the measure moved clearly above the rest of the period.
This likely reflects the labor market adjustment after the 2020 shock. As businesses reopened and staffing remained tight in some sectors, existing workers may have worked slightly longer schedules.
The Lowest Point Came in 2025
The lowest value appears in 2025, at 34.21 hours. That was below the 2024 level of 34.28 hours and lower than the earlier pre-2020 range.
Even so, the decline was modest. The difference between the 2021 high and the 2025 low was only 0.62 hours, or about 37 minutes per week.
Most Years Stayed Close Together
From 2015 to 2019, weekly hours stayed between 34.40 hours and 34.53 hours. That shows very little movement before the pandemic period.
After the 2021 peak, hours gradually eased. They fell to 34.57 hours in 2022, 34.41 hours in 2023, 34.28 hours in 2024, and 34.21 hours in 2025.
The Pattern Shows Stability, Not Volatility
The main takeaway is that weekly hours changed only modestly across the period. The line moved up in 2020 and 2021, then drifted lower afterward, but the overall range remained tight.
That matters because average weekly hours can signal how employers are managing labor demand. When demand is strong, employers may increase hours before hiring more workers. When demand softens, hours can fall before large employment changes appear.
What This Means for People
For workers, the chart suggests that schedules have remained relatively steady over time. The 2025 value of 34.21 hours is lower than the 2021 peak, but it does not show a major collapse in work hours.
For employers and analysts, the takeaway is that weekly hours point to mild cooling rather than a sharp labor market break. Hours have eased since 2021, but they remain close to the range seen across most of the past decade.
Dataset
Data Sources
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED). (2026). Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private [AWHAETP]. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AWHAETP
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Employment Situation, Table B-2. Average weekly hours and overtime of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm
