Study Finds More Americans Working Long Hours

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 3 -- The prosperity many American families enjoy is due not only to rising wages but to more family members working—especially among black and Hispanic families, a new study says.

The study by the Economic Policy Institute, a union-supported think tank, found that an average middle-class family’s income rose by 9.2 percent, after inflation, from 1989 to 1998. But they also spent 6.8 percent more time at work to reap it.

Without increased earnings from wives, the study’s authorsconcluded, the average middle-class family’s income would haverisen only 3.6 percent over the decade.

Government figures show that while the average full-timeworker’s work week has remained fairly steady at about 43 hours,the share of married women working full-time rose from 41 percentin 1989 to 46 percent in 1998.

The EPI study said middle-class black families work an averageof 9.4 hours more per week than their white counterparts. Blackswork more hours than whites at every income level, said economistLarry Mishel, a co-author.

“To be black in America is to work more just to keep up,” he said.

Rich Hispanics Work Most

The study also found that middle-class Hispanic families workfive hours more per week than their white counterparts.

Upper-income Hispanic families work the most of any group in anyeconomic class, putting in 12.9 hours more per week than whites,the study said. Other ethnic groups were not profiled in the study.

The statistics, based on Labor Department figures, are part of abiennial report, “The State of Working America,” to be publishedin January.

While advocates for workers portray the extra hours at work as agrim necessity to keep even, business groups say they morerepresent pursuit of the American dream.

Is Overtime Voluntary?

Martin Regalia, chief economist for the U.S. Chamber ofCommerce, said much of the increase in work time is voluntary, asworkers choose to earn more and move up economically.