Work and Leisure

100 Chris Gratton and Peter Taylormeans 10 hours of work each day of work. People living in a largemetropolis may require three hours of commuting time for the roundtrip,leaving a meagre 10 hours for sleep, eating, bathing, and other dailyliving necessities. If we estimate that these workers spend no time whatsoeverdoing household chores, that gives them free time at home totallinga mere one hour per working day. This type of Japanese person isknown for bringing work from the office home with him (it is mostlymen). It is not unusual for this kind of person to carry home overtimework and to go to work on holidays. Almost all household chores and theraising of children is left up to the wife. Even if the wife is also maintaininga paid job, the responsibility for housework and taking care of thechildren rests entirely on her.(Harada 1996: 38–39)However, such corporate warriors tend to be the older generation. There areindications that the younger generation has much more interest in leisure andwill not continue to work the long working hours traditionally associatedwith the Japanese economy.EuropeAlthough Britain has more leisure time than both the United States andJapan, within Europe Britain has the longest working hours. Table 5.7 showsTable 5.7 Average total usual weekly hours worked by full-time employees, EU, 1999Usual weekly hours of work, full-time employeesAll employees Male FemaleBelgium 38.4 39.1 37.7Denmark 40.0 41.1 38.4Germany 41.8 42.5 40.4Greece 44.6 45.8 42.1Spain 42.2 42.9 40.8France 40.9 41.8 39.5Ireland 42.1 44.1 38.6Italy 40.5 41.9 37.9Luxembourg 40.6 41.6 38.6The Netherlands 41.0 41.4 39.3Austria 41.9 42.1 41.5Portugal 42.4 43.4 41.1Finland 41.0 42.4 39.3Sweden 41.3 41.9 40.4UK 44.4 46.0 41.0EU average 41.9 42.9 40.0Source: Eurostat (1999) Labour Force Survey