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There's only one problem with that - it's not true. The author cites no sources for his claim and every source I've found contradicts him. The average number of

There's only one problem with that - it's not true. The author cites no sources for his claim and every source I've found contradicts him. The average number of hours actually worked has slightly declined in the US and significantly declined in Europe over the past few decades. In the broader historical arc, there has been a huge increase in leisure; the average working week throughout the 19th century was well in excess of 60 hours. Although most working parents report feeling rushed, the majority say that they spend the right amount of time with their children and that parenting responsibilities do not interfere with their career advancement. College-educated whites are, by some margin, the group most likely to report difficulties in balancing work and parental responsibilities. We might feel like we're increasingly stretched by the demands of work and home, but that perception simply isn't supported by any data I've been able to find. I'm not saying that we've perfected work-life balance, but the overarching trend is substantially positive. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/ybuy/lms https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwor... http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ320/orazem/addendums/declining%20hours%20worked.pdf http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ320/orazem/addendum... http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/ http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/ http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/11/2015-11-04_working-parents_FINAL.pdf http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/201...

bjourne 9y ago
Though we work more than farmers did 150 years ago: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_w... This was especially true in the Northern European countries where snow and lack of daylight would make it virtually impossible to work during the winter.
- lordCarbonFiber 9y ago
  I feel like attempting to compare modern quality of life to 19th century farmers is a fool's errand. Maybe we're working through the winter, but, as a whole it's very unlikely to kill us so I'm inclined to take that trade.
baursak 9y ago
From one of the links: "For example, in the CES a person working two part-time jobs of 20 hours a week is counted as having two 20-hour jobs, but in the CPS, the same individual is counted as one worker working 40 hours." So both surveys include part time jobs, not sure how that contradicts the original point.
chillwaves 9y ago
Does this data include commute times? Those are on the rise, which may not count as work but the time cost certainly should. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/22/the-american-commute-is-worse-today-than-its-ever-been/?utm_term=.285fb95f6aa9 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/22/the-a... I have coworkers doing 2 hours each way. A 4 hour commute each day would certainly eat into your time.
dalbasal 9y ago
Inflation measures are supposed to control for improvement in product quality & quantity so that you can represent the GDP of 1852 in 2018 dollar terms.... In 1993, a macbook pro would have been very valuable. If you have a time machine with 20 laptops in the boot, that's enough to let you live like Biff in the almanac timeline. Does that mean anyone with a macbook is a millionaire in 1992 dollars? This is not a solvable problem. It works ok for YoY inflation (that's the point) but, the phrase '2018 dollars' gets meaningless as we try to represent earlier years. Saying we are n% more wealthy than people in 1300, is just cheesy journalism mostly. Anyway (long preamble, sorry).... Just like trying to adjust inflation by 70 or 700 years is difficult, trying to account for hours worked and/leisure is difficult. Too much has changed. Woman joined the workforce. Children left it. Work got homework added. Training became more of a leisure time activity. Commutes got longer. Lunches got longer. The first one is probably the biggest. Btw there's an illustrative thread running through both... Childcare and elder care. These were done at home (mostly by women) as non economic activity. Now these are jobs. The generate GDP, work hours... But, children were being raised before. They are being raised now. It just didn't used to be counted as GDP/work hours.

bjourne 9y ago

Though we work more than farmers did 150 years ago: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_w... This was especially true in the Northern European countries where snow and lack of daylight would make it virtually impossible to work during the winter.

lordCarbonFiber 9y ago
I feel like attempting to compare modern quality of life to 19th century farmers is a fool's errand. Maybe we're working through the winter, but, as a whole it's very unlikely to kill us so I'm inclined to take that trade.

baursak 9y ago

From one of the links: "For example, in the CES a person working two part-time jobs of 20 hours a week is counted as having two 20-hour jobs, but in the CPS, the same individual is counted as one worker working 40 hours." So both surveys include part time jobs, not sure how that contradicts the original point.

chillwaves 9y ago

Does this data include commute times? Those are on the rise, which may not count as work but the time cost certainly should. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/22/the-american-commute-is-worse-today-than-its-ever-been/?utm_term=.285fb95f6aa9 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/22/the-a... I have coworkers doing 2 hours each way. A 4 hour commute each day would certainly eat into your time.

dalbasal 9y ago

Inflation measures are supposed to control for improvement in product quality & quantity so that you can represent the GDP of 1852 in 2018 dollar terms.... In 1993, a macbook pro would have been very valuable. If you have a time machine with 20 laptops in the boot, that's enough to let you live like Biff in the almanac timeline. Does that mean anyone with a macbook is a millionaire in 1992 dollars? This is not a solvable problem. It works ok for YoY inflation (that's the point) but, the phrase '2018 dollars' gets meaningless as we try to represent earlier years. Saying we are n% more wealthy than people in 1300, is just cheesy journalism mostly. Anyway (long preamble, sorry).... Just like trying to adjust inflation by 70 or 700 years is difficult, trying to account for hours worked and/leisure is difficult. Too much has changed. Woman joined the workforce. Children left it. Work got homework added. Training became more of a leisure time activity. Commutes got longer. Lunches got longer. The first one is probably the biggest. Btw there's an illustrative thread running through both... Childcare and elder care. These were done at home (mostly by women) as non economic activity. Now these are jobs. The generate GDP, work hours... But, children were being raised before. They are being raised now. It just didn't used to be counted as GDP/work hours.