During the 1930s, economist John Maynard Keynes prognosticated that the average working week would be significantly reduced to just 15 hours a week or so. This was a consistent prediction for futurists, many of which attributed to this decline to technological advancement and higher leisure time due to material needs being fulfilled.
The latest data suggests this prediction has failed.
A new Gallup survey says that full-time adult workers are working on average 47 hours per week, up from the conventional 40 hours a week that has been the standard for so many years. Rather than working from 9 to 5 five days a week, Americans are deciding to increase that.
The study discovered that 11 percent are working between 41 and 49 hours; 21 percent are working 50 to 59 hours; and 18 percent are roaring it up to 60 hours or more. Forty-two percent are still working 40 hours a week while just eight percent are clocking in fewer than 40 hours every week.
Since the year 2001, these numbers have remained steady. For full-time employees, they have worked on average between 44 and 47 hours a week, while part-time employees have experienced a fluctuation in the amount of hours they work, which is between 23 and 36.
These amount of hours can depend upon the employee’s status: hourly or salary. An hourly worker can be restricted by the number of hours they work because an employer may not want their staff to work overtime. Salaried workers, meanwhile, avoid this issue entirely and can work up to five hours longer compared to hourly employees (49 percent vs. 44 percent).
Here is the contrasting data:
Salaried Worker
Less than 40 hours: three percent
40 hours: 37 percent
41 to 49 hours: nine percent
50 to 59 hours: 25 percent
60-plus hours: 25 percent
Hourly Worker
Less than 40 hours: eight percent
40 hours: 56 percent
41 to 49 hours: 12 percent
50 to 59 hours: 17 percent
60-plus hours: nine percent
Study authors say there is another determining factor at hand here: Americans obtaining a second job. Although the number of survey respondents with more than one job is just 13 percent, the average number of hours worked is still 46 hours when the data is confined to Americans working at just one job.
“But this doesn’t necessarily mean that workers logging long hours are suffering. According to Gallup workplace management scientists Jim Harter and Sangeeta Agrawal, certain workplace polices – including the number of hours worked – can affect employee well-being,” the polling firm wrote in its Bottom Line. “However, having an engaging job and workplace still trumps these factors in fostering higher overall well-being in workers. Highly engaged workers who log well over 40 hours will still have better overall well-being than actively disengaged workers who clock out at 40 hours. In other words, hours worked matters, but it’s not all that matters.”
The telephone survey was conducted with 1,032 adults between Aug. 7 and 10. It contains a margin of error of +/- four percentage points.
