Modern American workers have made the phrase “there aren”™t enough hours in the day” a cliché. Yet, the results of a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tell a different story.
The average American over the age of 14 slept for eight hours and 45 minutes per day in 2013, according to the bureau”™s annual American Time Use Survey released Wednesday. The survey polled 11,000 people on their daily activities and although the data show that people younger than 24 spend more of their days asleep, every age group received at least the recommended eight hour allotment.
Americans spent more time sleeping per day than they did any other activity, according to the survey.
Employed workers spent an average of 7.58 hours per day working and 2.85 hours per day watching television, which represented half of their entire daily leisure time. The total time spent watching television has ticked downward in recent years as mobile devices and video games have taken up more of the average American”™s leisure time.
The majority of employed Americans, 83 percent, work on weekdays as opposed to weekends. Most employed Americans who work on weekdays put in more hours per day than those who work on weekends, 7.94 hours on average compared to 5.5 hours.
Employed men worked 53 minutes longer than employed women, according to the data. Although women are more likely to work part time than men, the discrepancy exists even when comparing only workers who spent more than 35 hours working per week. Full-time employed men worked 8.3 hours per day compared to 7.7 hours per day for full-time employed women.
The Wall Street Journal reported that data since the survey rolled out in 2003 show Americans are sleeping more and working less per day, with the depths of the recession likely accelerating the trends.
The Journal quoted John P. Robinson, a University of Maryland sociology professor, who said, “People say they”™re too busy for leisure and don”™t have time to sleep, but that seems not to be the case.”
