Every Oct. 24, we are encouraged to take back our time, which means not sweating it, going for a stroll, having an extra coffee break. The choice of Oct. 24 for Take Back Your Time Day goes back to Oct. 24, 1940 when U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act established the 40-hour work week.
The phenomenon of overwork, despite all our labour-saving gizmos — automatic washing machines, dryers, garage openers, microwaves and fast-food — Canadians and Americans suffer from what has been called "time famine" or "time poverty."
It appears to be a North American ailment that hits Americans harder than Canadians, and much harder than Western Europeans.
Activists from the U.S., Canada and Britain met in Chicago in June 2004 for the founding conference of Take Back Your Time Day. John de Graaf is national coordinator of Take Back Your Time Day and has written many articles on overworked Americans.
He says American workers log about 350 more hours on the job per year than Western Europeans, which comes to some nine extra work weeks a year. That extra load, says de Graaf, causes workplace stress and burnout that costs the U.S. economy $344 billion a year.
"Despite the promises of leisure made when the computer era was just beginning, we're working harder and longer than ever," he says. "The U.S. has traded all of its productivity gains for money and stuff, and none for time off. We work more than do the citizens of any other industrial country."
De Graff says American workers work longer than medieval peasants, adding that 25 per cent of American workers get no paid vacations while European workers are guaranteed four weeks paid vacation a year.
"The numbers of the jobless climb, and so do the numbers of the overworked, as the remaining jobholders work longer under pressure to get the job done," says de Graff. "The fear that they will be the next workers 'downsized' helps spur them into overwork."
European work weeks have maximum overtime limits
In Europe, collective agreements set basic weekly working hours for full-time staff at between 35 and 40 hours a week. Every EU country permits certain levels of overtime to be worked, in addition to regular hours, and all recognize 48 hours a week as the maximum limit.
All EU countries mandate four weeks of paid vacation a year. There is no mandatory paid vacation allotment in the U.S. or China. Canada mandates two weeks, though it is a provincial responsibility.
When Canada is compared with the U.S., research finds that because Canadians are not the workaholics that Americans are, they lag far behind their U.S. counterparts in productivity. A Statistics Canada study last year noted that hours worked per capita in Canada are substantially less than hours worked per capita in the U.S. According to the study:
- Hours worked per job in Canada are 93 per cent of those in the United States.
- Jobs per potential member of the labour force are 91 per cent of the United States.
The study says the prime reason Canada has a lower Gross Domestic Product per capita than the United States is because Canadians put in fewer hours than Americans. "It is not primarily because Canada is less productive," the study says.
Indeed, the study shows that the productivity gap in GDP between Canada and the U.S. declined between 1994 and 2002. In 1992, the level of GDP per capita in Canada was 82 per cent of GDP in the U.S. In 2002, the Canadian per capita output had risen to 86 per cent of the U.S.
Other examples of Canadian work habits:
- In 2002, some 12.5 million individuals worked full time in Canada, or 81 per cent of the work force.
- Over the past 20 years, the rate of full-time work for youths aged 15 to 24 has fallen while the rate for women aged 25 to 54 has increased.
- Some 2.9 million Canadians work at part-time jobs.
- In the past 15 years, the proportion of Canadians on a 40-hour work week has declined and the proportion working less than 40 hours has increased.
- Self-employed Canadians put in longer work hours.
- Those in labour-intensive industries such as farming log more working hours.
- Workers in service-related industries work fewer hours a week. In 2002, 52 per cent of employees in accommodation and food services and 37 per cent in health care and social assistance worked less than 35 hours a week.
- As for overtime, 10 per cent of Canadians work overtime with extra compensation, while 13 per cent work overtime with no extra pay.
By province, Alberta has by far the hardest workers, with a per capita GDP of $54,000. Ontario comes second, with a per capita GDP of $40,000. Prince Edward Island comes in last with a per capita GDP of $28,000.
But Prince Edward Island has better lobsters than Alberta, with more time to enjoy them.
