Quick answer
The core overtime statistics come from two federal sources. BLS measures overtime hours, and the Department of Labor measures overtime that went unpaid. In October 2026, manufacturing employees averaged 3.1 overtime hours a week. In fiscal year 2025, the DOL recovered $146.4 million in unpaid FLSA overtime for 110,551 workers.
Overtime statistics answer two questions: how much overtime Americans work, and how much of it goes unpaid. On hours, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in its Employment Situation release of November 6, 2026 that manufacturing employees averaged 3.1 hours of overtime a week in October 2026 (preliminary). On pay, the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recovered $146,377,245 in overtime back wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in fiscal year 2025. That is more than three of every four FLSA back-wage dollars. This page collects the latest overtime figures, each linked to the agency table it comes from.
Average overtime hours
BLS publishes average overtime hours only for manufacturing, where a large share of hourly work is tracked against a standard 40-hour week. All figures are seasonally adjusted, from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey. October 2026 and September 2026 figures are preliminary.
- All manufacturing employees averaged 3.1 overtime hours a week in October 2026, up from 2.9 in October 2025. Their average workweek was 40.5 hours. (BLS Table B-2)
- Durable goods manufacturing averaged 3.1 overtime hours and nondurable goods 3.2 in October 2026.
- Production and nonsupervisory employees in manufacturing, the hourly workforce most likely to be paid overtime, averaged 4.1 overtime hours on a 41.8-hour week, up from 3.7 in October 2025. (BLS Table B-7)
- Workzenly calculation: overtime was about 7.7% of the average manufacturing workweek and about 9.8% for production and nonsupervisory workers.
- The pandemic low was 2.1 hours in April 2020. Manufacturing overtime then ran at 3.4 to 3.5 hours in early 2022 before settling at 2.8 to 3.0 hours through 2023, 2024 and 2025. (BLS series CES3000000004)
What this means for employers: Overtime in manufacturing moves with demand, and it rose about 0.2 hours a week in the past year. Small changes add up: an extra 0.2 hours of time and a half for every hourly worker, every week, is a real budget line. Run your own numbers with the overtime calculator before you approve extra shifts.
How many people work over 40 hours
The Current Population Survey (CPS) counts everyone at work, salaried and hourly, by hours actually worked in the survey week. It does not say whether those hours were paid as overtime. These are 2025 annual averages from CPS Table 19. BLS notes that the 2025 figures average 11 months and exclude October.
- 157.74 million people were at work in an average 2025 week. 76.80 million (48.7%) worked exactly 40 hours.
- 34.28 million worked 41 hours or more: 12.47 million worked 41 to 48 hours, 13.06 million worked 49 to 59 hours and 8.74 million worked 60 hours or more.
- Workzenly calculation: 21.7% of people at work put in more than 40 hours, and 13.8% worked 49 hours or more.
- People who usually work full time averaged 41.9 hours a week. All people at work averaged 38.3 hours.
- Men were about twice as likely as women to work 60 hours or more: 7.4% of men at work versus 3.5% of women.
| Hours worked in the week | 2019 (thousands) | 2019 share | 2025 (thousands) | 2025 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 to 48 hours | 13,324 | 8.8% | 12,474 | 7.9% |
| 49 to 59 hours | 14,787 | 9.7% | 13,062 | 8.3% |
| 60 hours or more | 10,008 | 6.6% | 8,744 | 5.5% |
| Total at work | 152,240 | 100% | 157,736 | 100% |
| Average hours, usually full time | 42.5 | 41.9 | ||
Source: BLS, Current Population Survey, Table 19, 2019 and 2025 annual averages. Shares are Workzenly calculations from the published counts.
Long weeks have become less common. Workzenly calculation: the number working 49 hours or more fell from 24.80 million in 2019 to 21.81 million in 2025, while total employment at work grew. The share fell from 16.3% to 13.8%.
What this means for employers: One in five workers puts in more than 40 hours in a given week, and many of them are non-exempt. Every one of those hours needs to be recorded and paid at the right rate. Our guide to time and a half covers how the premium works.
Weekly hours by industry
Average hours show where overtime pressure sits. These are average weekly hours for all private employees in October 2026 (preliminary, seasonally adjusted) from BLS Table B-2. They are averages, so a 30-hour average can hide some staff working 45.
- The average private workweek was 34.4 hours in October 2026, up from 34.2 a year earlier.
- Goods-producing industries averaged 40.2 hours; private service-providing industries averaged 33.3.
- For production and nonsupervisory employees, the private average was 33.8 hours and goods-producing averaged 41.3. (BLS Table B-7)
What this means for employers: In mining, utilities, manufacturing and construction, the average employee is already at or near 40 hours, so most extra demand turns straight into overtime. In retail and hospitality, short average weeks mean the risk is uneven: a few full-timers cover gaps and cross 40. Construction and warehouse teams should watch weekly totals per person, not averages.
Overtime pay statistics
BLS does not break out overtime pay in its main Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) tables. It reports supplemental pay, which the ECEC technical note defines as "overtime and premium, shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses." Treat it as an upper bound for overtime, not overtime alone. Figures are for June 2026 from ECEC Table 4, released September 9, 2026.
- Supplemental pay cost private employers $1.88 per hour worked, 4.0% of total compensation of $46.89.
- For production occupations it was $2.23 (6.0%), the highest share among the broad occupational groups. Service occupations were $0.63 (2.6%).
- By industry: manufacturing $2.62 (5.4%), construction $2.49 (4.8%), hospitals $3.29 (4.9%), retail trade $0.58 (2.2%) and leisure and hospitality $0.30 (1.4%).
- Registered nurses in hospitals: $4.58 (5.7%). Service workers in hospitals: $2.09 (5.8%).
- High shares in finance and insurance (6.3%) are mostly bonuses, a reminder that this measure mixes overtime with other pay.
What this means for employers: Where supplemental pay is high for hourly groups, such as production staff and hospital service workers, overtime and shift premiums are usually the driver. Overtime must also be figured on the regular rate, which includes most bonuses and shift differentials. Our guide on how to calculate overtime works through the regular rate step by step.
Unpaid overtime statistics
No federal survey measures all unpaid overtime. The best hard numbers are what the DOL Wage and Hour Division recovers in investigations. The DOL fiscal year runs October through September. The latest year on the WHD FLSA data page on November 13, 2026 is fiscal year 2025.
- WHD recovered $146,377,245 in FLSA overtime back wages for 110,551 workers in fiscal year 2025.
- That was up from $126,967,097 for 101,043 workers in fiscal year 2024. Workzenly calculation: a 15.3% increase in dollars.
- Total FLSA back wages were $184,425,856 for 145,798 workers. Workzenly calculation: overtime was 79.4% of FLSA back wages.
- Minimum wage back wages were $27,530,083 for 41,812 workers, about a fifth of the overtime total.
- Workzenly calculation: the average overtime recovery was about $1,324 per worker.
- Across all laws it enforces, WHD recovered $259,294,764 for 176,957 workers in fiscal year 2025, concluded 16,924 compliance actions and assessed $58,699,936 in civil money penalties. (WHD, all acts)
These figures measure enforcement, not the full size of the problem. They count only cases WHD investigated and concluded, so they move with staffing and case mix as well as with employer behavior. Workzenly calculation: the number of workers owed overtime back wages fell 42.6% from 192,651 in fiscal year 2019 to 110,551 in 2025, while concluded compliance actions fell from 26,876 to 16,924.
What this means for employers: Overtime, not minimum wage, is where most federal back-pay findings land. The common causes are off-the-clock work, unpaid pre-shift tasks, rounding and misclassified salaried staff. Read up on the 7-minute rounding rule and keep accurate timesheets, since the FLSA requires employers to keep time records.
Overtime violations by industry
WHD publishes back wages for the low-wage, high-violation industries it targets. These totals cover every law WHD enforces in each industry, not just FLSA overtime, so read them as a map of where wage and hour problems concentrate. Fiscal year 2025, from the WHD industry data.
| Industry (FY 2025) | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Health care | $53,291,920 | 32,884 |
| Construction | $43,420,356 | 18,340 |
| Food services | $42,663,929 | 30,029 |
| Guard services | $10,965,507 | 6,287 |
| Retail | $8,646,369 | 5,203 |
| Temporary help | $8,492,228 | 2,206 |
| Agriculture | $6,830,766 | 8,602 |
| Janitorial services | $4,715,195 | 2,231 |
Source: DOL WHD, low-wage, high-violation industries, fiscal year 2025.
Health care, construction and food services together accounted for $139.4 million of back wages (Workzenly calculation). Health care also had the most workers owed money, 32,884, with food services next at 30,029.
What this means for employers: Industries with long shifts, overlapping shifts and many hourly staff carry the most risk. If you run a healthcare or restaurant team, audit how shift handoffs, meal breaks and travel between sites are recorded. Those are common places for hours to go unpaid.
Who is owed overtime
The FLSA requires overtime pay at one and a half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, unless the employee is exempt. Exempt status depends on salary and duties.
- The DOL's salary levels page lists a standard salary level of $684 a week, equal to $35,568 a year, for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions.
- The highly compensated employee level is $107,432 a year, including at least $684 a week paid on a salary or fee basis.
- A salaried employee paid under $684 a week is owed overtime under federal law regardless of job title. Several states, including California and New York, set higher salary levels. See overtime laws by state and California overtime law, which also adds daily overtime.
What this means for employers: Misclassification turns a salaried role into years of unpaid overtime at once. Check every salaried employee against both the salary and duties tests; our guide to exempt vs non-exempt walks through them. This is general information, not legal advice.
About this data
These overtime statistics come from four federal sources. BLS Current Employment Statistics hours and overtime are published monthly in the Employment Situation; the latest two months are preliminary and are revised. BLS Current Population Survey hours tables are annual averages; the 2025 averages cover 11 months and exclude October. BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation is quarterly; figures here are for June 2026. DOL Wage and Hour Division enforcement data is by federal fiscal year; fiscal year 2025 is the latest posted.
The sources measure different things. CES counts paid overtime hours reported by employers, and only for manufacturing. CPS counts hours worked as reported by households, for salaried and hourly workers alike, so a long week in CPS is not necessarily paid overtime. WHD data reflects investigations, not a sample of all employers. Where we compute shares, changes or averages, the text says "Workzenly calculation."
We review this page when new releases come out. Journalists, students and bloggers are welcome to cite it with a link to this page.
More workforce statistics: Average work week hours · Wage theft statistics · Shift work statistics · Construction labor shortage statistics.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation, October 2026, released November 6, 2026. bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table B-2, Average weekly hours and overtime of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted, October 2026. bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table B-7, Average weekly hours and overtime of production and nonsupervisory employees, seasonally adjusted, October 2026. bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t23.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics series CES3000000004, average weekly overtime hours of all employees, manufacturing, 2019 to 2026. data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES3000000004
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Table 19, People at work by sex and hours of work, 2025 annual averages. bls.gov/cps/cpsaat19.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Table 19, 2019 annual averages. bls.gov/cps/aa2019/cpsaat19.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 4 and Technical Note, released September 9, 2026. bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fair Labor Standards Act back wages, fiscal years 2013 to 2025. dol.gov/agencies/whd/data/charts/fair-labor-standards-act
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, All Acts enforcement data, fiscal years 2013 to 2025. dol.gov/agencies/whd/data/charts/all-acts
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Low wage, high violation industries, fiscal year 2025. dol.gov/agencies/whd/data/charts/low-wage-high-violation-industries
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Earnings thresholds for the executive, administrative and professional exemption. dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime/salary-levels
Frequently asked questions
What is the average number of overtime hours worked in the US?
BLS publishes average overtime hours only for manufacturing. In October 2026 (preliminary, seasonally adjusted), manufacturing employees averaged 3.1 overtime hours a week, and production and nonsupervisory manufacturing employees averaged 4.1 hours, according to the BLS Employment Situation release of November 6, 2026.
How many Americans work more than 40 hours a week?
In 2025, 34.28 million of the 157.74 million people at work put in 41 hours or more a week, including 8.74 million who worked 60 hours or more, according to BLS Current Population Survey annual averages. BLS notes the 2025 averages exclude October.
How much unpaid overtime does the Department of Labor recover?
In fiscal year 2025, the DOL Wage and Hour Division recovered $146,377,245 in FLSA overtime back wages for 110,551 workers. Overtime made up most FLSA back wages that year; minimum wage violations accounted for $27,530,083, according to WHD enforcement data.
Which industries have the most wage and hour violations?
Among the low-wage, high-violation industries the DOL Wage and Hour Division tracks, health care had the most back wages in fiscal year 2025 ($53.3 million for 32,884 workers), followed by construction ($43.4 million) and food services ($42.7 million). These totals cover all laws WHD enforces, not only overtime.
What salary makes an employee exempt from overtime in 2026?
The Department of Labor lists a standard salary level of $684 a week ($35,568 a year) for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions, and $107,432 a year for highly compensated employees. The employee must also meet the duties test, and several states set higher thresholds.
How much of compensation is overtime pay?
BLS does not publish overtime alone in its main ECEC tables. Supplemental pay, which includes overtime and premium pay, shift differentials and nonproduction bonuses, was $1.88 per hour worked, or 4.0% of private industry compensation, in June 2026.