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Are
Professionals and Managers Really Working More?
Dream Career News
ezine
by Kent Johnson
http://www.careeradrenaline.com
Issue:
June 20, 2005
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Are Managers and Professionals Really Working More?
Are
you a manager, professional, or other white-collar worker? Does it
seem like you've been working longer and longer hours in the recent
past? This is a question that the government asked several
years ago, and they did a study to see if they could find out the
answer. Here's what they found:
According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistic Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 50,000
households, more than 60 percent of the net employment growth during the 1990s occurred
among managers and professionals, occupations in which long workweeks are quite typical.
Coincident with this rise in employment
has been the perception that managers and professionals are working longer workweeks than
in the past. However, this may not be the case. In fact, weekly hours data for
such occupations show that the average work week has been about 42 hours during the entire
decade and, in fact, has shown little variation since 1982.
However,
there are a substantial number of professionals and managers who do put in extraordinarily long
work weeks.
In 1999, nearly 3 in 10 worked 49 hours or more per week, compared with about
2 in 10 for all non-farm occupations. Moreover, of the men employed as managers and
professionals, about 4 in 10 worked at least 49 hours per week, twice the share
of women in the same professions.
But this trend may be
leveling off. The proportions of long work weeks rose steadily during the
1980s, but showed no further increase in the 1990s. Because data from January 1994 forward
are not directly comparable to those for
earlier years due to a redesign of the CPS, one is cautioned to view the periods from 1989 to
1993 and from 1994 to 1999 separately. Even so, there has been very little change in any of
these series since 1989. Similar trends occurred for the proportion of managers and
professionals working 60 hours or more per week.
And it seems
that the trend has been going in the opposite direction in some
occupations. Although the number of managers and professionals working long
work weeks has increased,
but so too has the number working fewer than 49 hours per week. Since 1994,
the number of persons at work in these occupations has risen by about 6.5 million, to 38.6
million. The number working 49 hours or more has increased by nearly 1.8 million, to 10.8 million. Of the net employment increase among
managers and professionals, however, the share of those working 49 hours or more is still about
28 percent.
As for managers and professionals overall, there was relatively little change in average
weekly hours for managers and professionals separately during the 1990s.
And
a worker's gender does seem to be a factor in these trends. Among both men and women, the average
workweek for managers and professionals alike remained about unchanged over the
past 10 years, with managers working more hours per week than professionals. Women
make up a growing share of all managers and professionals, and they tend to have shorter
workweeks than do men.
Stable weekly work hours are not necessarily
incompatible with the perception of busier schedules among managers and professionals.
The perception could reflect changes in time
spent on other activities (commuting, for example),
more intense pressure during work
hours, the increased workload of one’s spouse, or other factors.
It
other words, it might seem like you're putting in more hours at the
office, even if you aren't.
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Copyright (c) 2005 by Kent Johnson
Author, publisher, career coach
"Helping people realize their dreams one career at a time."
Searching for your dream career? Visit the popular
http://careeradrenaline.com for more info
==========================
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