It's The Economy, Stupid

I am reading that in the United States, the professional class and the wealthy are working far more hours per week than they did a couple of generations ago while the poorer classes are working considerably less hours.  I don’t have data on that to show here but Charles Murray’s book Coming Apart – which I recently finished – has data to back this up.

It’s hard to extract meaningful data to show if this trend exists in Canada and in New Brunswick but the highest level source – average hours worked from the Labour Force Survey – would suggest that we have even a slightly reverse trend going on here.  I stress that is this only one source, small sample sizes and only one data point but it is interesting.

The Labour Force Survey lets us compare hours worked (main job) for a variety of occupational categories and we can compare back to 1987.   Across all occupations and workers, the average weekly hours worked dipped slightly from 1987 to 2011 (-2%).  Interestingly, the the number of people who worked 40 hours a week declined by 6% (the largest number of workers by hours worked) but the number who worked 41 to 49 hours rose by 56%.

When we look at professional occupations – the average weekly hours dropped by 6% over the period – the same decline as professional occupations in business and finance.  Natural science and government occupations also saw declines in average weekly hours worked.

Contrast that with clerical jobs, trades, machine operators and several other lower wage/skill occupations which saw an increase in average hours worked.

While the sample sizes are small, there is some interest data within the hours worked categories, too.

 

Total employed, all occupations (10)
	2011
	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	27,900	42%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	24,600	23%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	48,700	46%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	43,000	22%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	54,700	53%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	71,700	-6%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	42,400	56%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	39,000	20%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job)	36.1	-2%
Management occupations [A]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,000	43%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,000	n/a
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,300	130%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,900	38%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,500	75%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	6,000	18%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	4,900	104%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	5,800	4%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	41.3	-6%
Other management occupations [A1-A3]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,900	46%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,000	n/a
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,100	133%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,700	42%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,400	89%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	5,900	23%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	4,600	109%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	5,500	6%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	41.3	-6%
Teachers and professors [E1 E130] (12)	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,000	18%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	900	50%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,300	44%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,200	-14%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,700	113%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,800	-28%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,900	111%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	2,100	40%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	38.4	2%
Professional occupations in business and finance [B0]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	500	n/a
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	n/a	n/a
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,100	n/a
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,500	150%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,300	156%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,400	56%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,000	n/a
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	900	n/a
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	36.6	-6%
Natural and applied sciences and related occupations [C]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,200	100%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	500	n/a
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,700	183%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,600	100%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	4,300	87%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	5,400	46%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,300	136%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	2,200	100%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	38.6	-2%
Occupations in social science, government service and religion [E0 E2]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,300	n/a
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,100	10%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,000	82%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,900	73%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,000	173%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,300	35%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,200	100%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	1,400	17%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	34.3	-3%
Health occupations [D]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,000	88%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,300	86%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	4,500	73%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	4,100	116%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	7,000	37%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,500	35%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,700	238%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	1,500	50%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	34.5	-3%
Business, finance and administrative occupations [B]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	5,600	75%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,600	3%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	9,300	45%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	9,400	18%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	16,800	46%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	12,000	3%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	5,100	76%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	2,400	14%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	34.1	1%
Occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport [F]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	n/a	n/a
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	900	50%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,200	71%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	900	80%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,100	83%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,000	0%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	600	n/a
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	n/a	n/a
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	31.1	-6%
Sales and service occupations [G] (11)	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	6,600	65%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	11,700	17%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	20,600	39%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	11,800	24%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	10,800	44%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	17,100	-1%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	6,900	15%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	4,000	-22%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	30.5	-4%
Clerical occupations, including supervisors [B4-B5]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,800	81%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,000	-20%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	5,900	69%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	5,700	39%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	10,700	84%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	7,900	23%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,000	88%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	1,100	57%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	34	3%
Financial, secretarial and administrative occupations [B1-B3]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,200	20%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,300	30%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,300	-12%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,200	-33%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,800	-21%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,700	-39%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,100	10%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	500	-50%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	32.7	-5%
Machine operators and assemblers in manufacturing, including supervisors [J0-J2]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	700	-13%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	n/a	n/a
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	700	0%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,000	-29%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	1,000	0%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,900	-31%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,400	55%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	2,100	110%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	41.8	7%
Trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations [H]	000s	1987-2011
0 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,600	-3%
1 to 14 hours (x 1,000) (2)	2,200	38%
15 to 29 hours (x 1,000) (2)	3,800	27%
30 to 34 hours (x 1,000) (2)	6,400	-6%
35 to 39 hours (x 1,000) (2)	4,100	41%
40 hours (x 1,000) (2)	16,900	-20%
41 to 49 hours (x 1,000) (2)	10,000	41%
50 hours or more (x 1,000) (2)	12,600	40%
Average actual hours (worked in reference week, main job) (hours)	41.6	2%