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Convincing the toilers?

Author

Listed:
  • Brigid van Wanrooy

    (Australian National University)

  • Shaun Wilson

    (Macquarie University)

Abstract

Australians work comparatively long hours and, in recent years, most of the growth in per capita working hours has come from workers already employed full time.Yet, despite the problems long working hours can cause, this trend has not attracted political attention. Increasingly, the Australian working time regime is a weak regulator of working hours and promotes only limited equality between the working hours of men and women. This article uses responses from the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2003 to investigate whether workers' preferences are in accord with regime institutions. We find that people who work long hours are no less inclined than those who work standard hours or part time to see working hours as a choice and they do this despite more often reporting that their work interferes with family life and that employers expect long hours from them. We contend that seeing long working hours as a choice may be the product of the ‘liberal’ working time regime itself. Multivariate analysis of the responses suggest that structural pressures work to strengthen perceptions that there is a problem with long working hours and prompt the belief that long hours are not freely chosen. Implications of these findings tell us something about possible future regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Brigid van Wanrooy & Shaun Wilson, 2006. "Convincing the toilers?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(2), pages 349-368, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:20:y:2006:i:2:p:349-368
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017006064274
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Linda Bell & Richard Freeman, 1994. "Why Do Americans and Germans Work Different Hours?," NBER Working Papers 4808, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Iain Campbell & Peter Brosnan, 1999. "Labour Market Deregulation in Australia: The slow combustion approach to workplace change," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 353-394.
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    Cited by:

    1. Helen Clare Lingard & Valerie Francis & Michelle Turner, 2010. "The rhythms of project life: a longitudinal analysis of work hours and work-life experiences in construction," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(10), pages 1085-1098.

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