Uses evidence from a research study to demonstrate that Americans are spending less time at work and more time at leisure since the 1960s, and that less educated and lower-income Americans work less and enjoy more leisure than those with higher incomes

James Sherk

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WebMemo22 Published by The Heritage FoundationNo. 1596August 31, 2007This paper, in its entirety, can be found at: www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/wm1596.cfm Produced by the Center for Data AnalysisPublished by The Heritage Foundation214 Massachusetts Avenue, NEWashington, DC  20002–4999(202) 546-4400  •  heritage.orgNothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.Upwards Leisure Mobility: Americans Work Less and Have More Leisure Time than Ever BeforeJames SherkMany people believe that Americans are over-worked, but new research shows that Americans arespending less time at work and more time at leisurethan ever before. That research’s key conclusions:• Since the mid-1960s, the amount of time that thetypical American spends working fell by almosteight hours per week, while the time spent onleisure activities rose by just under seven hoursper week.• This additional leisure time is equivalent to anextra seven to nine weeks of vacation per year.Workers’ incomes would rise by over $5,000 peryear if they worked these hours instead of enjoy-ing more leisure.• The amount of money Americans spend on rec-reation has steadily risen since 1970, and moreAmericans take part in various recreational activ-ities than a generation ago.• Americans have enjoyed upwards leisure mobil-ity since the mid-1960s, but leisure has increasedunequally. Less educated and lower-incomeAmericans now work less and enjoy more leisurethan Americans with higher incomes. Thisexplains part of why they have lower incomes.The economy has produced large and importantgains in the non-material well-being of the Ameri-can people, but the debate over living standards andinequality has ignored this important fact. Before itembarks on policies to redistribute income toreduce inequality, Congress should recognize thatlower-income Americans have disproportionatelybenefited from the increase in leisure over the pastgeneration.Fewer Hours at Work. The popular perceptionis that the average American is overworked and doesnot have enough time to enjoy life. New research,however, challenges this conventional wisdom. Economists Mark Aguiar, of the Federal ReserveBank of Boston, and Erik Hurst, of the University ofChicago, examined five decades of time diary sur-veys administered by research universities and thegovernment.1 Researchers regard time diary surveysas one of the most reliable ways to find out howmuch time people spend on a given activity.2 Aguiarand Hurst distinguished between time spent work-ing for wages in the marketplace and time spentworking at home doing things such as cleaning ormaintenance. They also adjusted their figures toaccount for outside factors, such as age, marital sta-tus, and the presence of children that affect the timespent in work and leisure.3 They found that the amount of time Americansspend working has fallen by almost 8 hours perweek since 1965. This single figure obscures differ-ent trends between the sexes. Men today are work-ing just under 40 hours per week at paid jobs,page 2August 31, 2007No. 1596 WebMemo which is 11.6 fewer hours than in 1965.4 This fig-ure includes work-related activities such as com-muting to work.5 That decrease is offset by a 3.7-hour-per-week increase in time spent on householdwork, such as vacuuming or shopping for grocer-ies.6 Overall, men work 7.9 fewer hours per weekthan men a generation ago, leaving today’s men withmore time to spend with family and friends andpursuing their own interests.123456Women also spend less time working today thanfour decades ago, but for different reasons. Womentoday spend 11.1 fewer hours per week performinghousehold chores than before. At the same time,more women have entered the workforce, boostingthe amount of time the typical woman spendsworking in the market by 3.0 hours per week.7Women today, overall, work approximately 8 fewerhours per week than women in 1965. Many other researchers have looked at the dataand concluded that Americans are working lessand enjoying more leisure time.8 The popularperception of the overworked American is wrong:At home and at work, Americans work less thanever before.More Time and Money at Play. As Americanshave had to spend less time working to earn a living,they have had more time to spend doing things theyenjoy. Aguiar and Hurst also examined changes inthe amount of time Americans spend at leisure.Looking at the amount of time Americans spend onentertainment, social activities, relaxing, napping,eating, and playing with children, Americans enjoyabout 7 hours per week more leisure than in 1965.9 1. Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst, “Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades,” NBER Working Paper No. 12082, March 2006, at www.nber.org/papers/W12082.2. Researchers have found that surveys such as the Current Population Survey that ask only about hours of work tend to overstate hours worked. See John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey, Time for Life. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), and Thomas Juster and Frank Stafford, Time Goods and Well-Being, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1985).3. Aguiar and Hurst looked only at Americans between the ages of 21 and 65 in order to avoid confusing increased time in school or longer life expectancies with less work.4. Aguiar and Hurst, pp. 14-16.5. Ibid., Table 2.6. Ibid., pp. 15-17.7. Ibid., pp. 14-18.8. See John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey, and Jeremy Greenwood and Guillaume Vandenbroucke, “Hours Worked: Long-Run Trends,” NBER Working Paper No. 11629, 2005.9. Ibid., pp. 22-26. Leisure here refers to leisure measure 3 in the text.Table 1 WM 1596Change in Work Hours per Week Since 1965Note: Figures do not sum perfectly because of demographic adjustments. Source: Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst, “Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades,” NBER Working Paper No. 12082, March 2006, pp. 14-18, at www.nber.org/papers/W12082.   Men WomenMarket Work -11.6 3.0Non-Market Work 3.7 -11.1Total Work -7.9 -7.7Table 2 WM 1596Increase in Leisure Hours per Week Since 1965Source: Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst, “Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades,” NBER Working Paper No. 12082, March 2006, Appendix Table A3, at www.nber.org/papers/W12082.Men 7.9 hoursWomen 6.0 hoursTotal 6.9 hourspage 3WebMemo August 31, 2007No. 1596This represents a significant increase in the aver-age American’s quality of life. Americans today havesignificantly more to devote to their own pursuitsthan did Americans a generation ago.10 Other evidence about how Americans spendtheir time and money confirms that Americansenjoy more leisure than ever before. For example,the amount that Americans spend on recreation hassteadily risen over the past generation. (See Tables 3and 4.) Today, 8.7 percent of personal consumptionis spent on recreation, up from 6.6 percent in 1970.In dollar terms, the increase is even more striking.In real terms, Americans today spend $2,500 perperson on recreation each year, about three timesthe $850 spent per person in 1970.11Americans today are also participating in morerecreational activities than their parents did. Table 5shows how participation in various pastimes hasrisen between 1985 and 2004. A significantly largerproportion of Americans participate in golf and ten-nis than did twenty years ago, and Americans arealso seeing more movies in the theaters. (And thatdoes not account for the enormous increase in thequality of home entertainment systems.) Comparedto 1970, Americans are spending twice as much perperson each year today on movies and sportingevents. (See Table 6.)Many measures reflect Americans’ increased lei-sure consumption. Attendance at sporting eventslike Major League Baseball games has skyrocketed.(See Table 7.) Because they have more free time,more Americans can go out to the ballgame with10. Note that the increase in leisure is less than the decrease in work because some activities, such as visiting the doctor and attending college, are considered neither leisure nor work.11. Heritage Foundation calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau data.Table 3 WM 1596Percent of Personal Consumption Expenditures Spent on RecreationSource: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1218, and U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1986, Table 385.2005 8.7%2000 8.7%1995 8.5%1990 7.6%1984 6.7%1980 6.4%1975 6.7%1970 6.6%Table 4 WM 1596Infl ation-Adjusted Spending on Recreation per CapitaNote: Adjusted to 2005 dollars using the PCE Defl ator. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1218, and U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1986, Table 385. Population data are from U.S. Census  Bureau, “U.S. Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin.”2005 $2,5512000 $2,3161995 $1,9131990 $1,6121984 $1,1471980 $1,0101975 $9451970 $854Table 5 WM 15961985 2004Adult Golfers per 1,000 46 55Tennis Players per 1,000 75 104Average Movies Attended per Year 4.4 5.2Selected Recreational ActivitiesNote: Figures represent the number of golf and tennis players per 1,000 residents age 16 years or older and the number of annual movie visits per resident of any age. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2006, Table 1234. Population data are from U.S. Census Bureau, “U.S. Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin.” page 4August 31, 2007No. 1596 WebMemo their families and friends. And more Americans aregoing abroad than ever before. The proportion ofAmericans who travel overseas in a given year hasmore than tripled since 1970. (See Table 8.)Quality of Life. Seven hours of additional lei-sure time per week might not seem like a lot, but itrepresents an 11 to 13 percent decrease since 1965in the amount of time Americans spend working.12If Americans took that leisure time all at once, itwould amount to an extra 6.6 to 9 weeks of vaca-tion per year.13 The average American’s annualincome would rise by $5,000 to $5,500 if he or shechose to work those extra hours rather than spendthem at leisure. That would represent a 13 to 14percent raise.14Some people do make that choice and do worklonger hours for higher wages. Most Americans,however, have declined that choice. The prosperitythat has given modern Americans more materialgoods than any society ever also allows Americansto spend more time doing the things they enjoy.Americans today have more time for family, friends,community, hobbies, and pastimes than 40 yearsago. Americans’ having more time for these pur-12. Aguiar and Hurst, p. 3.13. Ibid., p. 25.14. Ibid., pp. 35-36.Table 6 WM 1596Infl ation-Adjusted Per-Person Spending on Movie, Theater, Opera, and Sporting Event AdmissionsNote: Adjusted to 2005 dollars using the PCE Defl ator. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1218, and U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1986, Table 385. Population data are from U.S. Census  Bureau, “U.S. Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin.”2005 $1292000 $1201995 $971990 $841984 $661980 $611975 $521970 $66Table 8 WM 1596Overseas Trips per 1,000 AdultsNote: An “adult” is an individual 16 years of age or older.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1250, and U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1987, Table 390. Population data are from U.S. Census Bureau, “U.S. Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin.” 2005 124.42000 123.31995 93.41990 83.21985 67.41980 47.51975 40.51970 37.0Table 7 WM 1596Annual Attendance at Major League Baseball GamesNote: Adjusted to 2005 dollars using the PCE Defl ator. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1218, and U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1986, Table 385. Population data are from U.S. Census  Bureau, “U.S. Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin.”2005 76,285,9172004 74,822,1822003 69,501,2982002 69,427,9102001 73,881,2262000 74,339,0001995 51,288,0001990 55,512,0001984 45,262,0001980 43,746,0001975 30,373,0001970 29,191,000page 5WebMemo August 31, 2007No. 1596suits does not show up in economic reports, but itmeans that Americans today enjoy a significantlyhigher quality of life than their parents and grand-parents did.Leisure Inequality. Largely as a result of theincrease in the value of a college education, incomeinequality has widened over the past generation.What has attracted less attention is the fact that “lei-sure inequality” has also widened—in the oppositedirection. Americans with at least some college edu-cation have enjoyed a substantially smaller increasein leisure time than Americans with only a highschool diploma or less.In the 1960s, both highly educated and less edu-cated Americans had approximately the sameamount of leisure. Today, highly educated Americanmen enjoy more leisure than such men in the 1960sbut 6.8 fewer hours of leisure a week than Americanmen who have not earned more than a high schooldiploma. Similarly, highly educated Americanwomen also have more time off than a generationago but still 4.4 hours per week less leisure timethan their less educated peers.15 The growing econ-omy has allowed Americans to spend less time atwork, and that has particularly benefited Americanswith less education. This trend is also reflected in government pov-erty data. The fifth of working age Americans withthe lowest earnings work half as many hours asthose in the top fifth.16 Americans with less education and lowerincomes may choose to work shorter hours thanthose with more education due to, in part, perfor-mance pay. The increased use of performance payover the past generation explains a substantial por-tion of the increase in inequality over that time.17Companies pay more productive workers morewhen they perform well, and this motivates them towork longer hours. Many Americans with less edu-cation could trade off longer hours for higherincomes, but choose not to.Congress should certainly look to remove barri-ers that prevent workers from becoming more pro-ductive, but the fact that some workers choose toenjoy more leisure and lower incomes does notindicate a problem with “inequality” or call forredistribution of income. A person’s life does notconsist of the abundance of his or her possessions,and Congress should not look only at material ine-quality, while ignoring leisure, before concludingthat American society is too unequal.Conclusion. The stereotype of the overworkedAmerican is wrong. Americans work fewer hoursand enjoy more leisure than ever before. The aver-age American today works 8 hours less per weekand enjoys 7 hours more leisure per week than in1965. Americans today can earn a good living whilehaving time free to focus on their own pursuits.Americans now spend more on recreation, enjoymore pastimes, and travel more than a generationago. If Americans traded this new leisure time formore time at work, individual incomes would riseby an extra $5,000 a year, on average.Americans from all backgrounds enjoy more lei-sure than a generation ago, but leisure has notincreased equally. More highly educated and higherincome Americans enjoyed a smaller increase in lei-sure than Americans with no more than a highschool education. Congress should not ignore thisrapid upwards leisure mobility, and its distributionamong Americans, when it confronts the issue ofinequality.—James Sherk is Bradley Fellow in Labor Policy inthe Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation.15. Ibid., pp. 26-29 and Table 6.16. Robert Rector and Rea S. Hederman, Jr., “Two Americas: One Rich, One Poor? Understanding Income Inequality in the United States,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1791, August 24, 2004, at www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1791.cfm.17. Thomas Lemieux, W. Bentley MacLeod, and Daniel Parent, “Performance Pay and Wage Inequality,” NBER Working Paper No. 13128, May 2007, at www.nber.org/papers/w13128.

Upwards Leisure Mobility: Americans Work Less and Have More Leisure Time Than Ever Before

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Upwards Leisure Mobility: Americans Work Less and Have More Leisure Time Than Ever Before

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