Working Hours

Working hours refers to the time spent by individuals in paid market work. Differences in working hours across populations arise from difference in the share of individuals that are employed (the extensive margin) and the number of hours worked by each employed [Page 1721]individual (the intensive margin). Over recent decades in industrialized nations, average hours of work per person have tended to rise. The increase in average working hours has been the result of growth in the share of the population employed, particularly the rise in women's rates of employment. The number of hours worked per employee has changed less, and in some nations, average hours of work per employee have declined.

Average annual working hours in the United States at present exceed those in European countries by about 50 percent. This is a relatively recent development. In the early 1970s, western Europeans worked more on average than Americans. Since then, the increase in employment rates in the United States has outpaced that in western Europe, and American working hours have significantly overtaken those in Europe. The productivity per hour of American workers remains similar to that of European workers. Much of the explanation for the greater per capita output of the United States compared to many European workers therefore lies in the greater number of hours worked per year by Americans.

Changes over Time

In the United States, average weekly hours worked per person declined about five or six hours per week on average over the 20th century. Hours worked per worker declined more, about 16 hours per week, but this was offset by an increase in the rate of employment. Most of the decline in the hours worked per person has been concentrated among the young and the old, with the hours worked per person of prime-age individuals (those between 25 and 54 years of age) remaining roughly constant from 1900 to the present.

Despite the decline in the average hours worked by those employed in the United States, the notion of “overwork” arises frequently in popular and academic discourse, for example, in Juliet Shor's widely cited book The Overworked American. One possible explanation is the growing share of dual-earner and single-parent families. In the United States, the share of couples in which both husband and wife work rose from roughly one-third in 1970 to more than half by the year 2000. Single-parent and dual-earner families with children are more likely to experience challenges in balancing the demands of work against those of family.

In recent decades, the average hours worked by men has declined while the average hours worked by women has risen. A growing share of men is opting for earlier retirement. This, along with an increase in education levels, which delays men's entrance into the labor force, has reduced the hours that men work over the life span. Women, on the other hand, have increased their working hours over the life span. Women's labor force participation rates rose steadily over the course of the 20th century. The increase in the labor force participation rates of married women has been particularly marked since 1960.

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