Study: Leisure Time Declines

The average American works 140 more hours per year than he or she did two decades ago, according to a study conducted by Associate Professor of Economics Juliet Schor.

As real wages have dropped and health and housing costs have risen, workers have begun working more and more hours, according to the study, which was co-authored by Laura Leete-Guy of Case Western University.

Thus Americans today have fewer hours of leisure than their recent predecessors did. From 1981 to 1989, the average number of days off fell from 19.8 to 16.1.

The report pointed out that the increase in time spent in the workplace is the reverse of a prediction commonly made during the last decade, namely that increased automation would soon lead to a "crisis of excess leisure time" for American workers.

Willing to Sacrifice Income

Schor and Leete-Guy found that though workers may be working more hours, many say they would be willing to give up some income for fewer hours.

Seventy percent of those earning at least $30,000 a year said they would not mind losing a day's pay each week in exchange for an extra day off.

Among those earning $20,000 a year, the report said, 48 percent said they would be willing to make a similar sacrifice.

Schor and Leete-Guy also note that during the period that work hours have been increasing, unemployment has more than doubled.

In 1969, unemployment stood at 7.2 percent. By 1989, the number had grown to 14.6 percent.

The two professors drew the data for their work from the March Current Population Survey and the University of Michigan Time-Use Studies.