American workers have a strong attachment to their jobs and many are willing to put in more than the 40-hours-of-work-per-week standard. Furthermore, nearly six million hold two jobs and an even larger number said they often do some work at home outside of their usual full-time employment hours.

These were part of the findings from a May, 1985, special supplemental survey to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey (CPS) on American work schedules. The CPS is a monthly survey of approximately 59,500 households in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and provides the basic measurements of the labor force and unemployment for the nation.

"What this survey shows us is that American workers are dedicated to their jobs in terms of the number of hours they work and are willing to work," says Paul Flaim, chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "They still have the Protestant work ethic."

Other findings from the survey show that:

  • Multiple jobholders, persons working at more than one job, numbered about 5.7 million in May, 1985. They accounted for 5.4% of all employed persons, up from 4.9% in 1980.
  • Work outside the typical daylight hours, usually in the evening, was the usual routine for about one-sixth of the full-time workers and one-half of the part-time workers.
  • Flextime or other schedules enabling workers to vary the start and end of their workday, was available to about 12% of the wage and salary workers with full-time jobs.
  • A preference for a longer workweek (and thus "more money") was expressed by about one-fourth of the workers. In contrast, fewer than 1 in 10 said they would opt for a cut in hours accompanied by a reduction in earnings.

Research methodology

The CPS survey uses a combination of personal interviews (30%), and telephone interviews (70%), to collect its data, says Flaim. Questions from the supplemental survey are in addition to the regular questions asked in the annual survey.

Supplemental survey questions, some of which have never been asked before in other supplemental surveys and some of which are asked periodically, were included in the annual survey because "there are some questions which need to get answered once in awhile," says Flaim.

"Every three or four years we want to know how many people hold two jobs because that phenomenon creates discrepancies in the data we get from employers. For example, if a person holds three jobs, he/she will turn up in our data three times.

"We also get thousands of inquiries from the public, the media, researchers and business people on questions such as 'How many people work at home? Who are the people who work for temporary help agencies?' Both of these areas, which we have never examined, were covered in the study."

Decreasing popularity

According to the study's section on work sched-ules, the 40-hour, five-day workweek remains the schedule of choice for most employers and workers. However, there is evidence that this scheme has been declining in popularity. Employment in such schedules has lagged behind total employment growth since 1979. Throughout the 1973-85 period, long hour/long-day schemes have been contracting, both for men and women.

In their place, three other schemes are emerging, the study finds. Both sexes have demonstrated increased readiness to work a simple compressed workweek, wherein 40 hours of work are completed in under five days. Those working more than 40 hours per week appear to be working more compact schedules within the confines of a five-day week (or less), holding two or more days free for other activities. Among those working 40 hours or less, some appear to be adopting "work spreading" schemes, which distribute their hours over 5 1/2 or more days per week. The result is a diversification of schedules which has occurred without much corresponding change in the mean or median estimates of usual hours or days worked per week.

As a whole, men continue to work more hours per week, more hours per day, and more days per week than do women. They are also more likely to work on 'weekends. Elements of the standard workweek thus continue to dominate overall work schedule distributions. Nonetheless, the female work force has experienced rapid growth in long hours schedules and those involving 5 1/2 or more days per week, while the expansion of the male labor force has occurred chiefly in shorter, more compact schedule groupings.

Few will trade

The study's data on workweek preferences finds only moderate support for the hypothesis underlying the "backward bending labor supply curve" which states an increase in rates of pay past a certain point induces workers to reduce their hours of work. The proportion of workers choosing fewer hours of work does grow as earnings rise, yet the category remains very small. Even among workers earning $750 or more per week, the study finds, only about 10% of the men and 20% of the women were willing to trade hours of work, and the income linked to them, for additional leisure.

Varying schedules

Questions in the study on the workday finds that about one of eight full-time workers were on flextime or other schedules that allowed them to vary the start and end of their daily work. The great majority were on typical daylight schedules, with about one-fifth re-porting 8 a.m.-5 p.m. as their schedules.

Multiple jobs

The study finds a particularly sharp increase in the number of women with two jobs, which is another sign of the growing strength of their ties to the job market.

According to the section on the workday, between 1980 and 1985, the number of women with two jobs or more rose by almost 40% to 2.2 million. Over the same period, the multiple jobholding or "moonlighting" rate for women (percent of employed with more than one job), jumped from 3.8% to 4.7%. In 1985, women made up nearly two-fifths of all moonlighters.

The moonlighting rate for men continued to hold steady at 5.9% in May, 1985. While men are still more likely than women to be working at two jobs or more, the gender difference in the incidence of multiple jobholding has been sharply reduced over time. As recently as 1970, the moonlighting rate for men exceeded that for women by five percentage points; by 1975, the gap had shrunk to three percentage points; by 1980, it had declined to two points; by 1985, it barely exceeded one point.

Economic factors predominate among the reasons for working more than one job. The ability to meet regular expenses or pay off debts, a desire to save for the future and getting experience or building up a business were other reasons cited.

Little sick leave 

Constructing measures of absences comprised another section of the study. The proportion of workers with an absence in the reference week for the survey was only 4.7%, a rate considerably lower than rates which had been computed for several years until 1980. Confirmed by other data, this decline in absences is believed to reflect several factors such as: The job reduction in some industries, which is likely to have affected most predominately workers with high rates of absenteeism; the likely impact of such cuts on other workers, who might have reduced their rates of absenteeism so as not to jeopardize their jobs; and the favorable steps adopted by some employers to reward the workers with few absences.

Working overtime

The final portion of the study looks at workers receiving overtime pay. The data includes not only the persons working more than 40 hours a week but also those receiving overtime premiums for some hours, even though the weekly total does not exceed 40. Out of 10.5 million workers with some overtime pay for work performed during the reference week of the May, 1985 survey, about 1.6 million had actually worked 40 hours or less.

Flaim says its possible that the study may prompt government bodies to take action on some of its findings, for example, the job-share issue.

In the face of company lay-offs, an employer might institute job-share, says Flaim, which decreases the number of working hours of all employees, thus enabling everyone to work and no one to lose their job. However, this work technique may not go over well with employees, continues Flaim, since the study found that people, even older workers nearing retirement, want more, not less, working hours.