The UK workforce can continue to work for longer than 48 hours a week after ministers agreed a deal on the Working Time Directive and the Agency Workers Directive. According to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the UK's flexible labour market has one of the highest levels of job creation in Europe, and the arrangement for people to work for longer than 48 hours a week has been in place for a decade. Business Secretary John Hutton said three million extra jobs had been created in that time, and the deal would mean that businesses could cope during busy periods.