>
> ....Even the US, where hours are longest in the developed
> world, has less of a work-ethic than seems to be the case. US studies
> show that employees spend as much as six hours at work on personal
> projects a week, from e-mailing to picking up kids (Cox and Alm, Myths
> of Rich and Poor, p. 67).
>
>... 'The economy of time' an overview by James Heartfield argues that the
> growing weight of leisure in the economy is a consequence of the more
> even distribution of working time with the expansion of those in work.
> Extensive, rather than intensive growth is characteristic of the last
> five years, meaning that working time is spread over more people. But
> capitalism's failure to engage the subjectivity of ordinary people
> through real creativity - in the realm of production - puts a far
> greater onus of engaging with people through culture.
>
> Cultural Trends 43/44 is available from Carfax Publishing Ltd., Taylor
> and Francis Publishing Group, Rankine Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG24
> 8PR, and all good bookstores
I don't know how things are for you in the UK - but in the U.S. those of us not unemployed (and thus with a whole lot more unpaid leisure than we want) are pretty fuckin overworked.
It is not just that we work longer hours than in Europe. We also work longer hours every year than the year before. As for screwing off at work - believe me no one who screws off at work would not rather be screwing off at home if they could get the same pay. Most of the adding "play" to work is a mattter of taking care of personal business that long hours neccistate. For example if the kids are in day care, and some day care emergency comes up - you have to take the call from the facility to take care of it. If a commercial day care facility thinks there is a slight case your kid has something infectious they will send it home - and not let it back until you give them a doctors note saying it is OK. And if you get a call like that, you'd better rush over to pick up the kid if you want it let back in when you have the note. Less formal day care may not have that particular problem - but if your day care is a relative or an unlicensed facility (perhaps someone who takes twenty kids into their home - charges less because of illegally high volume) there are others problems of unreliablity. (If your day care is one person - then if that one person has a personal emergency your day care is canceled.) There are all sorts of personal busienss that can only be taken care of during working hours - especially if those working hours are extended.
So I don't think most of the personal time taken at work counts as "leisure". And I doubt personal business at work has increased anything like as fast as hours worked.
If you look at the U.S. census figurse in the 2002 Statistical Abstract of the U.S. - Table No. 573. Employed Civilians and Weekly Hours: 1980 to 2001b you will see a long term increase in hours worked by *employed* people. Given the increase participation of women in the workforce in that time, and thus the fact that a large percentage of the population is working- and that the burden of unpaid work has not fallen - I think you will find that that average time not doing paid work has fallen dradtically in the U.S. Given that the unpaid workload did not suddently vanish - I think you will find that leisure time for both men and women has decreased - but more drastically for women than men, since they now do about the same amount of paid work as men, but continue to carry most of the unpaid work as well.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/labor.pdf http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/steady-cn.htm
The UK - well you know your own country best. But given the increased leverage capital has over labor, it would not suprise me if you were as wrong there as here. I know you are completely mistaken about the U.S. Both statistics and personal life experience contradict you there.