Who Works the Longest Days

As I’ve written before, the pay gap between men and women narrows when you control for occupation. Another factor that may play a role: the hours that men work compared with women, even when they’re both technically employed full time (which means usually working at least 35 hours a week).

A recent release from the Labor Department’s American Time Use Survey shows that men employed full time work slightly longer hours than their female counterparts, 8.46 hours versus 7.87 hours. For part-timers, women work slightly longer hours.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012 American Time Use Survey.

The same release, based on 2012 data, had some other interesting datapoints about typical work hours.

High school graduates with no college experience work the longest days, for example, putting in 7.97 hours on their typical workdays (regardless of whether they are part-time or full-time). People with bachelor’s degrees put in the shortest days (and for the highest hourly wage, natch), at 7.57 hours.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012 American Time Use Survey.

There is a wider spread among occupations. People who work in farming, fishing and forestry work an average of 6.92 hours on their average workday, compared with workers in installation, maintenance and repair, who put in 8.35 hours on their typical workday.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012 American Time Use Survey.