Compared to the 1970s, a growing proportion of Canadians is working longer hours and moonlighting. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a growing proportion can’t find enough work, and insecure, temporary work has increased, according to Statistics Canada data.
Roughly 30 years ago, one-quarter of all Canadians with full-time jobs worked over 41 hours a week. By 2001, the proportion had risen to one-third. These people come from all walks of life, from managers, professionals, and the self-employed to blue-collar labourers and many workers in low-skilled, low-paying jobs.
When unpaid household work and work on the job are combined, the total work burden for some people is staggering. Mothers with full-time jobs work on average 73 hours a week, while full-time employed fathers work 71 hours. A growing body of evidence points to substantial costs associated with work stress, long work hours, insecure or insufficient work, and unemployment.
In short, today’s widespread work trends adversely affect people’s health, quality of life, and the economy. Involuntary part-time more than doubles In his best-selling novel Generation X, Douglas Coupland defined the McJob: “A low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never held one.”
While Statistics Canada data do not distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad jobs,’ they document changes in numbers of people who involuntarily take part-time work. They also count numbers of temporary – and therefore insecure – jobs.
Part-time employment is on the rise. In 1953, roughly four per cent of Canadian workers held part-time jobs. By 2001, nearly one-fifth of the workforce was working part-time. Many would rather have full-time jobs.
Between 1976 and 1995, the proportion of involuntary part-timers, as a percentage of all part-timers, nearly tripled. In 2001, 26 per cent of part-timers worked part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work. In addition, since part-time jobs are more likely to pay poorly, carry no benefits, and provide limited job security, many part-timers can’t make ends meet.
Similarly, jobs in Canada are becoming less secure. Since 1997 alone, when Statistics Canada began collecting information on whether jobs were permanent or temporary, the proportion of workers employed in temporary jobs increased by 12 per cent.
Many are unable to get by on one job. Between 1976 and 2001 the incidence of moonlighting more than doubled. According to Statistics Canada, “…more people are arming themselves with several jobs in the event that one disappears.”
There aren’t enough permanent, secure, and fulltime jobs to go around. At the same time, the percentage of people working long hours has risen. The incidence of overtime increased 11 per cent between 1997 and 2001 alone.
Growing gap between rich and poor related to work-hours imbalance
This growing polarization of work hours is partly responsible for the widening gap between rich and poor in Canada. While some people are working increasingly long work hours, others can’t get enough hours.
Statistics Canada found that the increase in earnings inequality that took place in the 1980s and 1990s occurred in conjunction with changes in the distribution of annual hours worked. In 1990, the richest 20 per cent of Canadians had about seven times as much disposable income, after transfers and taxes, as the poorest 20 per cent. By 2001, they had nearly nine times as much.
The paradox of our times is that many Canadians today work long hours while many others have no work at all,” reads the landmark 1994 report by Canada’s Federal Advisory Group on Working Time and the Distribution of Work, popularly called the Donner Report. “Research shows that, under the right circumstances, a major reduction in working time could result in a meaningful decrease in unemployment and a significant redistribution of jobs.”
Indeed, cutting the working time of all Canadian workers by 10 per cent would result in a “substantial redistribution of jobs,” according to results of a simulation by the economic forecasting firm Informetrica Limited. The simulation, featured in the Donner Report, examined what would happen if Canadians gradually reduced their work hours through methods such as shorter workweeks, more vacation time, or phased-in retirement.
Reducing work-time can cut government expenses, make workers more productive
The results were positive. Between 1995 and 2004 – the time span of the simulation – the unemployment rate was predicted to drop by four percentage points, as many unemployed found new jobs due to the overall reduction in work hours. GDP would be little affected because the same amount of goods and services would be produced. Disposable income would decline slightly because of the shorter work hours. However, this drop in income would be offset by substantial increases in leisure time.
Several studies also show that a drop in work hours actually makes workers more productive. The Donner Report concluded that a 10 per cent reduction in working time would produce a five per cent increase in hourly productivity. In addition, government spending on social assistance and unemployment insurance would decrease, the tax base would widen, and corporate profits would rise slightly.
“We think of that as a real win-win, including a win for the government budget, never mind job creation,” says Arthur Donner, who chaired the Advisory Group.
A study done this year by GPI Atlantic uses the same model to show that a 10 per cent reduction in Nova Scotia’s work hours should free up enough hours to create about 20,000 new jobs, even after offsets in labour productivity are accounted for. If these jobs were filled from the ranks of the unemployed, the province’s unemployment rate would be cut nearly in half.
This article was originally published in Reality Check: The Canadian Review of Wellbeing, a joint project of The Atkinson Charitable Foundation and GPI Atlantic.