According to a report by the National Statistics Institute, in 2008, owners work more than employees and private employees work more than government employees.

Owners in Florida work the most at 54.5 hours per week and owners in Rocha work the least at 42.2 hours. Montevideo business owners on average work 46.6 hours per week. The report also shows that there is one homemaker and one student for every six workers outside the home. At the end of last year, 45% of the 3.3 million people in Uruguay had a paid job (1.5 million people). There are 1.6 million active people in the workforce.

Of this total, 7.5% were unemployed, 6.3% were on the dole or looking for work and 1.2% were looking for their first job. In Montevideo at the end of 2008, there were 645,000 paid workers, 85,000 homemakers, 90,000 students, 6,000 landlords, 52,000 retireees and 148,000 pensioners.

Outside the capital, there were 865,000 paid workers, 158,000 homemakers, 134,000 students, 6,000 landlords, 81,000 retireees and 193,000 pensioners. There were 717,000 aged younger than 14 (the legal working age).

(El País, 26 June 2009)