Australians are working more hours, and it might be hurting our living standards

The Age

a day ago

Australian workers could be putting in nearly half the hours they were 45 years ago but have instead tended to work longer hours to upgrade their lifestyles, sacrificing work-life balance for more income.
Productivity Commission research economist Rusha Das found average working hours for Australians had shrunk only modestly from about 34 to 31 hours a week over the past few decades, while incomes had risen significantly.
'Overall, Australians have opted to use their [increased productivity] to upgrade their lifestyles, like buying fancier coffee and taking more expensive holidays, rather than shorten their workdays,' Das said in the commission's June bulletin.
She noted that, with the growth in productivity since 1980, Australians could have instead worked an average of 15 hours less each week without lowering consumption levels.
But given productivity – the amount of goods and services produced for a given level of resources, including hours worked – has stagnated over the past decade, Australians may be compensating by putting in more legwork.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who has said productivity is the primary focus of his second term in government, will host a roundtable this month in Canberra with representatives from industry, unions and government to find ways to lift the country's living standards.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation have called for shorter working hours and more annual leave in return for productivity gains ahead of the roundtable. AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy told The Australian that 'productivity can't be at the expense of the wellbeing of workers'.
Cronulla real estate agent Domenico Santaguida, 24, works 7am to 6pm on weekdays and 7am to 5pm on Saturdays while fielding calls and questions from buyers and sellers around the clock.