Americans Work Less Than Four Hours Per Day, Survey Finds

Americans are working less and relaxing more, according to the 2010 American Time Use Survey.

The survey, released by the Labor Department on Wednesday, found that the average American over the age of 15 only spent around 3 hours and 58 minutes working on weekdays in 2010.

That's 26 fewer minutes spent working than in 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal, who cites the recession, particularly higher unemployment and cuts in hours, as the reason for the slide. If only counting days people work, that number jumps to 7.5 hours.

So what are American doing with all their time? Taking it easy.

According to the survey of 13,200 people, Americans caught an average of 8 hours and 23 minutes of sleep on weeknights, and managed to squeeze in an impressive 9 hours and 20 minutes on weekends.

They're also spending about 2 hours and 31 minutes watching TV -- that's about 5 minutes more than before the recession in 2007. Computer use has also increased -- Americans spend about 13 minutes more on their computers, with 1 hour and 39 minutes a day, than in 2007.

But women on average, according to the survey, spent about 5 fewer hours on leisure per week than men and still work about 41 fewer minutes as well.

What hasn't changed is the number of Americans still working on the weekend, 35 percent of workers don't have Saturdays and Sundays to relax -- a number that's held fairly steady for the last five years.

Comments

[MiddleMolly]

02:52 AM on 06/28/2011

I wrote this yesterday, now down a page or two:

The article is misleading­, probably intentiona­lly:

Full-time people still average 8.0 hours of work a day, down from 8.05 hours a day in 2007.

And t.v. watching? We watch 6 minutes more of t.v. on the average... Not bad considerin­­g the number of people who are not working.

So: Wall Street Journal misleads!

http://mol­­lysmiddle­a­merica.b­lo­gspot.c­om/­2011/0­6/wa­ll-st­reet-­jour­nal-mi­sle­ads-wor­ki­ng.html

[MiddleMolly]

02:56 AM on 06/28/2011

Link won't click. Try:

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/06/wall-street-journal-misleads-working.html

[Mary Blickhahn]

02:04 AM on 06/28/2011

This has got to biggest bunch of Cow pies I've read yet! I see out of work American's volunteering full time, working hard to find work to pay the bills, seeking out ways to help people and working hard to make the best of a hard situation! Personally I think those surveyed probably worked harder then the surveyors!

[MiddleMolly]

02:53 AM on 06/28/2011

The average person who works full-time works 8.0 hours a day, 8.17 hours on a weekday, if I recall correctly. The article is misleading.

[loki]

07:18 PM on 06/27/2011

they should have used a photo of CEO's playing golf or buying hookers at strip clubs , not one fat guy with the remote sleeping on the couch. That would reflect the real lazy people in American industry more accurately.

[Mary Blickhahn]

02:05 AM on 06/28/2011

Well look at what Congress and the Senate do with all their time off..and while they are supposed to be working!

[msanonymous222]

12:44 AM on 06/29/2011

Now now, they're holding town halls and taking care of business in their hometowns when they recess.

For at least 10 minutes each day.

[loki]

07:14 PM on 06/27/2011

averages are bogus. If you take 10 homeless poor people and put them in a room with Warren Buffet, you have 10 billionaires , On Average.


So in this story, you can figure if you take 150 million hard working people, and add in 250,000 sociopath non working Ivy greed capitalist who take but never work, you could get less than 4 hours work on average.

[MiddleMolly]

02:55 AM on 06/28/2011

It averages all people over 15 years of age: The retired, the unemployed, the parents taking care of kids, the people working part-time by choice.

The average full-time worker still works 8.0 hours a day, more during a weekday.

Wall Street Journal misleads!

http://mol­­­lysmiddl­e­a­merica­.b­lo­gspo­t.c­om/­20­11/0­6/wa­­ll-st­reet­-­jour­nal­-mi­sle­ad­s-wor­ki­ng.html

[gotheart]

07:01 PM on 06/27/2011

not true.

[Nick McQueen]

04:52 PM on 06/27/2011

Who does this apply too? Most of my friends have two jobs and are working like a dog to make ends meet. Is this report a joke? Smile...I'm on Candid Camera!

[MiddleMolly]

02:58 AM on 06/28/2011

Comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...

It averages people over 15: The unemployed, students, people tending children, people working part-time by choice, people who are retired.

Intentionally misleading. People who are working full-time average 8.0 hours a day.

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/06/wall-street-journal-misleads-working.html

[Eagleman]

10:07 AM on 06/27/2011

I think this statistics applies only to Government workers and other freeloaders living off the welfare and other entitlements

[Lochness71]

01:09 PM on 06/27/2011

I agree. I am lucky if I only work 8 hours a day.

[bullwinkler]

04:06 PM on 06/27/2011

No I think it also includes CEOs, stockbrokers and bankers as well as the majority of house members.

[drp103]

09:25 AM on 06/27/2011

watching kids? hello! Full time job every second of the day....

[grapost]

08:56 AM on 06/27/2011

This story is FALSE! Only WHITE COLLAR WORKERS work less than 4 hours a day. They stand around watching others work, shuffle papers, yakk on the phone for hours because they are bored, extend their lunches, troll for women in other departments, etc. Blue Collars workers are constantly monitored, and watched. So how are they gonna get away with working less than 4 hours? They fact is THEY DON'T! This article is an INSULT to all Blue Collar workers in America!

[TrippLite]

10:11 AM on 06/27/2011

Hey I think you're reading this wrong. If you are at work/being paid to work, you are counted as working, this isn't a measure of productivity. Just time spent at work. The 4 hours a day includes weekends, even if you don't work on weekends. The article says when only counting days when someone is scheduled to work, the number jumps to 7.5. Next time slow down and read the article. The report is below and you can look through it to really understand if you want.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm

[Mary Blickhahn]

02:08 AM on 06/28/2011

I read and got the overall message as Americans are fat and lazy! It was hard to miss

[MiddleMolly]

03:00 AM on 06/28/2011

The average full-time worker works 8.0 hours a day according to the survey. The Wall Street Journal is intentionally misleading.

[Saxton]

06:40 AM on 06/27/2011

This report is bogus, I might believe it for people between the ages of 15 - 20 who work hourly wages but everyone I know who are in careers are working over 50 hours a week and are expected to do work on the weekends. I guess this report will be used by those individuals who want to justify the off-shoring of jobs to India and China or by Republicans who want to further their attack on the middle class.

[bluecollaramerican]

04:34 AM on 06/27/2011

Worker productivity is at a record high, American workers take less vacation time than most other Western countries and this article is trying to paint them as being lazy and getting lazier.

[MiddleMolly]

03:01 AM on 06/28/2011

It's a spin by the Wall Street Journal... probably an attempt to paint the average American as a l@zy freeloader.

[SitandStay]

02:32 AM on 06/27/2011

I would have preferred a photo-shopped image of Timothy Geitner with a harness collar on pulling a cart of dung with Bush # 43 sitting atop.

[bluecollaramerican]

04:32 AM on 06/27/2011

That'll work

[SitandStay]

02:29 AM on 06/27/2011

Maybe they are averaging all the hours the unemployed would have been working into the working population.

At any rate, the photo-shopped guy on the couch either has a tumor or fake baby bump.

[MiddleMolly]

03:02 AM on 06/28/2011

Yes, it is an average of all people over the age of 15: The unemployed, students, retired people, people tending children, etc.

Full-time workers still average 8.0 hours of work a day.

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/06/wall-street-journal-misleads-working.html

[nopilikia]

12:37 AM on 06/27/2011

WOW.......average American's working less than four hours on WEEKENDS......another study funded by the GOP backing calls to cut those lazy American's social programs. Oh what's a average 2010/2011 American's profile now days?