Americans Spend More Time Working, Survey Says

Americans are working more now than they did in the 1970s and 1980s, according to a poll by Louis Harris & Associates Inc.

People surveyed said they spend 23% more time working, studying or doing housework now than in 1973 and 7% more than in 1987. During the last five years, time spent working has remained about the same. For example, Americans polled said they are working an average of 49.9 hours weekly now compared with 50.8 hours in 1997, the Harris poll said.

“More women are working now than in the early ‘70s, so I think there is probably a perception on the part of people that they’re working more hours,” said David Crane, executive vice president of Harris & Associates. “The rise over the past 25 years is quite dramatic, although the rate of increase has slowed over the past five years.”

Although they are working more than during the last two decades, U.S. employees are less committed to their employers than a year ago, and more than half said they would switch jobs for a 20% pay boost, according to a separate poll last month by Aon Consulting. About one-quarter said they would switch jobs for a 10% salary increase, according to Aon, a unit of Chicago insurance company Aon Corp.

Americans spent 26% more time relaxing in 1973 than in 1998, according to the Harris poll of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Reading has remained the most popular leisure activity for the last three years, the poll said, with 30% of those polled this year picking it as one of their favorite pastimes, a 7% rise from last year. Twenty-one percent said watching TV is a favorite activity, and 14% like to spend their time gardening.

Only 13% said spending time with family or children is among their favorite activities. Fishing, playing team sports and going to the movies are also popular hobbies, the poll said.