Work and Leisure

128 Jiri ZuzanekTable 7.3 Feelings of time pressure by gender and workload, Canada, 1998Time pressureindex* (1–100)Mean scores% rusheddaily or few timesa weekTotal population 52.2 66.6Men 51.1 64.9Women 53.2 68.3Estimated weekly hours of paid work0 to 30 hours 44.8 53.330.1 to 40 hours 58.8 79.740.1 to 50 hours 61.1 81.550.1 hours or more 65.5 88.3Combined load of paid and unpaid workper day8 hours or less 45.1 51.98.1 to 10 hours 55.8 73.610.1 to 12 hours 56.7 78.312.1 hours or more 63.8 88.7Amounts of free time per day (includingtravel)3 hours or less 61.3 84.73.01–5 hrs 55.5 73.85.01–7 hrs 50.5 65.27.01–9 hrs 46.5 54.69.01 hours or more 43.8 48.3Source: GSS – see Table 7.1* A 12-item measure based on questions that asked respondents, among other things: how rushedthey felt compared to five years ago; how often they felt rushed at the time of the survey; whether theyworried about not spending enough time with family and friends; if they felt stressed because of lack oftime; and whether they did not have time for fun anymore (range = 0–100; Alpha = 0.76)In general, analyses of the relationships between time pressure and participationin daily activities do not support the proposition that non-workingactivities, in particular leisure, contribute substantially to the feelings of timepressure. Even leisure activities most susceptible to time pressure, such associal and physically active pursuits, were not accompanied by feelings of‘time crunch’ as much as paid or unpaid work activities. In sum, feelings oftime pressure seem to be rooted primarily in contracted and committed ratherthan discretionary time, that is in paid work, family obligations and, possibly,voluntary work. 1Time pressure and different social groupsAnother interesting question with regard to time pressure is whether therising levels of ‘time crunch’ affect the entire population equally or are more