Poll: Americans are working less than they were five years ago

Americans are working fewer hours than they were before the pandemic, with the drop more pronounced among younger employees, according to a new Gallup poll.

Gallup said Americans with full-time jobs averaged 44.1 hours a week in 2019. By last year, that had fallen to 42.9 hours a week.

Workers 35 and older are working about one hour less a week now than they did in 2019. Workers 18-34 are working nearly two hours less a week. Gallup said that adds up to at least an extra week off work per year for full-timers.

Labor economist Aaron Sojourner, of the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, said Bureau of Labor Statistics data differs a bit from the Gallup data. But they both tell the same story.

“Full time isn’t as full as it used to be,” Sojourner said.

Pulling from BLS data, Sojourner said full-timers were logging 41.8 hours a week on average last month, down 2% over the last five years. The fall in hours is broad and seen across industries, including those that rely heavily on in-person work like hospitality, mining and manufacturing.

Workers in the information sector, which likely offers more scheduling flexibility, are working nearly 3% less on average than they were five years ago.

Sojourner said the BLS data goes back decades, and the average weekly hours of work for full-timers ratchets down after every recession. The pandemic recession was no exception.

It might be that there’s a sort of rebalancing of working volume so companies can keep wages down coming out of each recession, Sojourner said.

“There might be an implicit trade-off against raises or other kinds of compensation that we can’t really see or tease out exactly. … Jobs are complicated, and they get bargained over in many dimensions,” he said.

Overall, Sojourner said this seems to be working for employees and the economy. He noted the value of leisure time, even if it’s not fully reflected in economic gauges such as the gross domestic product.

“The point of the economy is not to produce more,” he said. “The point of the economy is to live our best lives together.”

Jim Harter, chief scientist for workplace management and well-being at Gallup, wrote about some possible reasons for the reduction of working hours.

And his possible reasons aren’t necessarily good news for workers. Employee well-being has been on the decline and employees have less trust in institutions in general and feel more detached from their employers, he wrote.

Harter said employee engagement was too low and that it’s costing companies nearly $2 trillion in lost productivity.

“We’re trying to create awareness around the state of the workplace, so leaders understand what workers are going through and how they can improve not only the well-being of people in the workplace but also the performance,” Harter said.

He said an engaged employee feels involved and enthusiastic about their work and workplace. They aren’t just showing up, clocking in and going home at the end of their shift. They’re putting in discretionary effort. Employee engagement affects retention rates, productivity, customer service, and profitability, Harter said.

Companies prioritizing employee engagement are good at setting clearly communicated goals, recognizing good work and having high accountability. And good managers are critical.

“Good management, or management in general, explains about 70% of the variance in team level of engagement,” Harter said.

In the new Gallup analysis, he wrote that burnout might be a major reason why employees are working fewer hours. Work-life balance has gained importance for workers, especially younger ones.

Advances in technology might be making work more efficient.

But Harter warned a workforce that is becoming more technically efficient and less engaged might lack the motivation needed for long-term growth.

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