Long hours, low wages: Lebanon’s quiet crisis

International Labour Organization data places Lebanon 11th globally for average weekly working hours: 46.4 hours, roughly nine-and-a-half hours a day. That figure sits uneasily beside chronically depressed wages, runaway living costs and the absence of a clear, enforceable minimum wage. The result is a country where people work more and get less physically, financially and socially.

The numbers and what they mean

According to ILO data, Lebanon’s average worker clocks 46.4 hours per week. Regionally, Lebanon ranks fifth among Arab states; Sudan tops the Arab list and is second globally for weekly hours. At the other extreme, Yemen records the lowest averages both regionally and globally (about 25.9 hours/week). Iraq and Syria report relatively low weekly hours as well, 30.4 and 31.2 hours/week, respectively.

Those raw figures become meaningful only when read against Lebanon’s very specific political-economic reality: wages that have not kept pace with inflation and living costs, widespread informal employment, gaps in labour protections, and the long tail of economic collapse since 2019. Long hours here often do not equal higher pay, social protection or productive investment, they equal survival strategies.

Why Lebanese people are working so long

Lebanese people are working longer hours not out of choice, but out of necessity. Since the currency crisis and economic collapse that accelerated in 2019, real wages have plummeted while the cost of living has soared, forcing households to stretch each paycheck by working longer or taking on multiple jobs just to cover basic needs like food, rent, healthcare, and transportation.

The absence of a clear, enforceable minimum wage compounds the problem: with little legal protection, employers can demand extra hours without increasing pay, relying on labor as a substitute for fair compensation. This pressure is amplified by the prevalence of informal and precarious work, where contracts are often non-existent, overtime pay is rare, and total hours are unlimited. In this context, long hours are not just a labor requirement but a survival imperative, a cultural and economic reality in a country where the shrinking social safety net leaves few alternatives.

The human cost beyond the paycheck

The cost of long working hours in Lebanon stretches far beyond the paycheck. Physically and mentally, the toll is heavy: chronic fatigue, stress-related illnesses, and weakened immune systems are common, while the high cost of healthcare traps many in a vicious cycle of declining well-being. Yet longer hours do not automatically translate into higher productivity. Burnout saps focus and creativity, mistakes multiply, and the value of each hour worked can decline even as the total rises. In Lebanon, the human cost of overwork is both profound and multi-layered, touching bodies, minds, relationships, and the future itself.

Long hours are a signal, not a solution

Lebanon’s position near the top of global working-hours rankings is a warning light flashing red: the economy is extracting time from its people without returning dignity, security or sustainable income. Fixing this requires restoring a social contract: predictable wages, enforceable labor rights, functioning safety nets and policies that make working less of a survival strategy and more of a route to a decent life. The ILO numbers tell a simple story: Lebanese people are giving more of their lives to work. The urgent question is whether the state, employers and society will start giving something back.