A challenging economic climate means the number of people working more than 48 hours a week is on the rise again, according to trade unions.

According to a report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the number of people working long hours has increased at a faster rate over the last year than the decline in excessive working between 1998 and 2006.

An extra 180,000 people across the UK are working more than 48 hours a week in 2008, the report found – taking the total to 3.3 million.

The sharpest increases in long hours working occurred in the east of England (up 2.1 percentage points) and London (up two percentage points).

Between 1998 and 2006, the number of people working more than 48 hours was reduced by 3.7 percentage points (707,000) from 3.8 million to 3.1 million.

The TUC report suggests the recent increase in the number of people working long hours is due to the challenging economic climate, which has made employers more reluctant to recruit new staff and instead work existing employees harder.

The analysis also finds 85 per cent of new long-hours workers are male. The TUC claims this trend, in which senior jobs are increasingly reliant on long hours, could hamper efforts to close the pay gap, as women with childcare responsibilities are likely to be excluded from these roles.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “After slow but steady progress over the last decade, long hours working is making its way back into Britain’s workplaces.

“Employees across the UK already work the longest hours in Western Europe and the recent increase will mean lower productivity, more stress and less time to have a life outside the office with friends and family.”

The TUC is calling on the government to back proposals to strengthen the Working Time Directive (WTD), when employment ministers from the across Europe discuss the Directive at the EU Social Affairs Council meeting on June 9th and 10th.