The shift to long working hours: a social and political crisis in the making

It is commonly believed that the labour market is becoming polarised. Many people work fewer hours than a ‘standard working week’ of 35 to 44 hours and would like to work more while others work much longer hours. More attention is paid to the former group than to the latter because commentators tend to believe that their situation is more problematic. During the period 1986-87 to 1998-99 the proportion of the labour force working long hours (45+) increased far more than the proportion working fewer than 35 hours. This trend was particularly marked for older men and to a lesser degree for older married women. In 1998-99, more than 47 per cent of men in the labour-force aged 45-54 worked for longer than the standard working week, compared to just under 36 per cent in 1986-87. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s