A new study says Nova Scotians are working more hours than ever as their free time shrinks.

The report, by Nova Scotia-based research group GPI Atlantic, says on average workers are putting in a month more of extra paid work time than they did 10 years ago.

The data is drawn from Statistics Canada's general social survey time-use diaries gathered in 1992, 1998 and 2005.

The GPI report found single working mothers to be the group most affected by loss of free time, which has shrunk by 2.7 hours a day or nearly 19 hours a week.

Lead author, professor Andrew Harvey of Saint Mary's University, says working single mothers have to work longer hours to make ends meet, because of lower social service payments following deep cuts to federal social transfers to the provinces in the 1990s.

The report also looked at how free time is spent and found that 40 per cent is used to watch television, 26 per cent is spent socializing and 20 per cent is spent on sports and other active leisure pursuits.

The study recommends that Nova Scotia look to the Netherlands, where work hours have been reduced and free time increased by improving conditions of part-time work such as pay rates and benefits.