How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful?

Re:How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful? by sliverstorm on Saturday June 01, 2013 @01:59PM (#5805084)

That seems somewhat unlikely? There are 168 hours in a week, or 128 hours of time outside the 40 hour workweek. Even those without a high school diploma have 113 hours of leisure per this graph- so I don't think we can immediately conclude they just don't have work.

Also, this chart is from 1965 to 2005, so more recent trends will only be in a tiny corner of this graph.

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Re:How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful? by gregpilling on Saturday June 01, 2013 @04:01PM (#5805708)

So if a normal work week is counted at 40 hours, and there are 99 hours of leisure according to that chart for a modern man with a degree, then it works out that the average person on that plot line is now working 168 - 99 = 69 hours on average or 69 / 40 = 172.5% of a normal week. Sounds unbalanced to me.

Juliet Schor has an excellent book on this subject The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline Of Leisure http://www.amazon.com/Overworked-American-Unexpected-Decline...

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Re:How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful? by sliverstorm on Saturday June 01, 2013 @04:57PM (#5805979)

Right, the average working man works more than 40 hours a week because per the article, this chart counts things like housework as work.

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