Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On May 13, 2007, at 12:52 PM, Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> > In the U. S., it's an irrefutable fact that the average worker is
> > working far, far more than the average worker in previous generations
>
> Is that really true? The 40-hour week was a major victory for the
> working class - in the 19th century, the workweek was a hell of a lot
> longer. Americans may be working more now than in the 1950s or 1960s,
> and certainly the population as a whole is working longer (for pay
> that is) than then. But that was an anomalous period in many ways, so
> it all depends on what your point of comparison is.
And the 1960s are the proper point. But aside from that, do the figures take into account hours of sleep. I think there's evidence that most of us actually need well over 8 hours. Whatever that figure is, if an extra hour's leisure comes from staying up too late, it shouldn't count as leisure.
Carrol