Work and Leisure

The economics of work and leisure 91overtime, it was managers and professionals who were most likely to be workingunpaid overtime.Therefore a substantial part of the longer/overtime hours worked in the UKis not paid for directly, on an hourly basis. The income/leisure trade-off, if itexists, is much more indirect and longer term – with a perception that workinglonger helps to obtain and sustain senior positions with higher salaries.Labour force activity ratesThe labour force activity rate is the percentage of working age people that arein the workforce. The long-term trend in labour force activity rates demonstratesa steady decrease in the percentage of working age men (16–65 years)working in paid employment, and a steady increase in the percentage ofwomen of working age (16–60 years) in the paid workforce (see Table 5.2). In1999 less than 72 per cent of men of working age were in paid employment,one of the main factors in the decline being that early retirement has reducedactivity rates in the last years before 65. By 1999, over 54 per cent of womenof working age were in paid employment and there is every expectation thatthis will continue to rise. These trends on the face of it demonstrate a dominantsubstitution effect for women and a dominant income effect for men. Thepicture for women, however, is more complex, as it may be that paid work isbeing substituted for unpaid (house) work, rather than leisure time.Table 5.2 Labour force economic activity rates, 1 UK, 1984–99UKPercentages of males age 16–65, females age16–60Males1984 75.91991 74.91994 72.61999 71.5Females1984 49.21991 53.11994 53.01999 54.4Source: DfEE Social Trends, National Statistics website,www.statistics.gov.uk. Crown copyright material is reproduced with thepermission of the controller of HMSO.1 The percentage of the population that is in the labour force.