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The changing landscape of New Zealand employment
When was the last time your boss said to you: "You're working too hard slow down a bit"?
If one was to discern a common theme of much of the legislation that this Government has passed, it would be an emphasis upon recognising the value of leisure time and protecting employees from the dangers associated with overwork: legislation concerning workplace stress, policies to encourage "work-life balance" and amendment to the holidays legislation to encourage more time off work.
Until recently, however, much of the evidence that was used to support the introduction of these different things was either anecdotal or based upon an analysis of individual workers (within their particular workplace environments). A recent study has, however, provided some interesting information about the way in which households work and the conclusions that can be drawn about the way in which families are making decisions about employment.
"The future of work within households" is a report published by Paul Callister of Callister & Associates (4 November 2004). It is a project which considers the weekly paid hours worked by individuals in the context of paid work of other adults who live in the same household. Put another way, it is a study about the way in which households work.
The report (which is, with appendices, 83 pages long) offers some intriguing insights into the way in which things have changed in the New Zealand household. It is based upon information taken from census data from 1986 to 2001. What follows are a few of the most interesting findings.
The way in which couples work has changed dramatically over the last 18 years. Overall, there is an increase in the total average number of hours worked. In particular, there is an increase over recent years in the hours worked by older couples (being people aged 50 and over). It is suggested that this observation is due largely to the increase in employability of people in this age group and the increased likelihood of at least one partner of an older couple choosing to work (where perhaps in previous years retirement was favoured as the preferable option).
Well qualified couples tend to work longer hours than those with no formal qualifications. There could, of course, be a myriad of different reasons for this including increased demands upon those in professional occupations, and a desire by young well qualified people to maximise their income. To some extent, this observation is reflected in the average income statistics couples in the top 10% of income work 81 hours (between them) on average, while couples in the bottom 10% of income work 55 hours.
The author of the report suggests that this conclusion possibly supports complaints by couples both about overwork and about underwork.
Households with children tend to make different employment decisions. Overall, there has been an increase in the combined hours worked for couples with young children over recent years. The largest increase has been for couples both of whom are well educated.
Interestingly, men are less likely to work long hours where they have a young child, and their partner is not in paid work. At the same time, fathers with no formal qualifications are most likely to work long hours perhaps to make up for the income deficiencies suffered by their partner's non-employment.
Callister suggests that there could be a number of reasons which combine to explain the present employment environment:
- Job security is probably an important issue for most workers but particularly those with young children, or partners who are not in paid employment. There is a perception that working hard increases one's job security perhaps increasing the incentive to work longer hours.
- The housing market may also be a particular factor in inclining people to work longer hours. The rising price of residential property combined with something of a social expectation that owning one's home is an important part of being a New Zealander (particularly with children) could be a powerful incentive inclining people to work hard.
- New Zealand's labour laws may also have some part to play. Employers may perceive that the law makes it more difficult for them to get rid of poor-performing employees inclining them to offer good workers the opportunity to work overtime to take up any slack.
Perhaps one of the most interesting observations in this report (which is partly drawn from the conclusions of other studies) is the reaction that New Zealand workers have to the prospect of working longer hours. While some employees say that they are working too hard and would prefer to have greater leisure time many (if not most) employees working longer hours are happy doing just that. This might be out of a desire for greater income and material wealth or simply out of job satisfaction (for example, because many high paying jobs require long hours as a matter of routine).
Whatever the answer, as this study demonstrates, New Zealanders are working longer and differently to the way in which we did 20 years ago.
