Complaints aren't as bad as the office-cooler kvetching might imply. Even among the least satisfied groups, majorities nonetheless are satisfied with the amount of free time they have in an average week — 51 percent of parents of young children, 53 percent of people in high-income households and 55 percent of full-time workers.

At the other end of the scale, 90 percent of seniors are satisfied with their free time, as are 78 percent of nonworking Americans.

And the old days don't look better: Only about a third of Americans feel they have less free time than their parents did at their age. Thirty-six percent feel they have more free time, 31 percent, about the same amount.

That's consistent with work by University of Maryland sociologists who say Americans are working fewer hours than in 1965, doing less housework and having more time to themselves.

Who’s Satisfied

After seniors and people who don't work for pay, satisfaction with free time is highest among those who have annual household incomes less than $25,000 (72 percent), who don't have children at home, and who aren't married (in both cases, 71 percent).

Jobs take up a lot of time: Satisfaction with free time falls from 78 percent among the unemployed to 68 percent of part-time workers and, as noted, down to 55 percent of those who hold full-time jobs. (It's a good bet that free-time satisfaction is comparatively low in high-income households because many of them include two-worker couples.) Satisfaction with free time bottoms out for parents with children under the age of 12, and also for people 35-44 years old — the age group likeliest to have little kids and their attendant soccer games, music lessons and after-school activities. (Having kids, of course, can bring its own rewards, free time aside.)

Better Off

While some folks may pine for the good old days, many realize the era before microwave ovens wasn't filled with empty hours. As noted, just 32 percent say they have less free time than their parents did at their age.

Again, employment, family status and age color perceptions. About half of those who are 55 and older, who don't work or who live alone, say they have more free time than their parents had. But four in 10 full-time workers, and as many parents of children under 12, say they have less free time than their parents did.

Those who are satisfied with their free time are more than twice as likely as those who are dissatisfied to say they have more of it than their parents had. Similarly, eight in 10 who report more free time than their parents are satisfied with how much of it they have, but only half as many who feel they have less free time than their parents agree.

Methodology: This ABCNEWS 20/20 poll was conducted by telephone Jan. 7-11, 2004, among a random national sample of 1,142 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.