Findings of an Exploratory National Survey on Work Time Preferences
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I. 'DOCUMENT RESOMr ED 189 369 CE 025 847 AUTHOR BeSt, Fred TITLE Exchanging Earnings for Leisure: Findings of an Exploratory National Survey on Work Time Preferences. PP, R&D Monograph 79. 1. INSTITUTION' National Commission for Employment Policy ((poL), Wassiiington,\D.C. SPONS AGENCi Employment and Training Administration (DOL) , Washington, D.C. -.PUB DATE 80 NOTE - 191p.; Tables may be marginally lekible due to small print. 1 AVAILABLE FROM' Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 2,0402. EDRS-PRICE MF01 plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCR4PTORS *Employee Attitudes: *Flexiblb Working Hours: Fringe Benefits: Income: Job Satisfaction; *Leisure Time; ter National Surieys: Organizational'Climate; *Work Attitudes ABSTRACT A national survey Was conducted-t0 explore the work time preferencei of American workers 'and their willingness to trade income for leisure. Dati'were collected through person-to.-person- intervieis with 1,566.respondents.,The resslts of the study indicate that prevailing work time ,coTiditions are at-variance with the Preferences of today's workers. A malerity of the American workers ..,state a wIllingness to fotego most of future pay raises for more time :.awalt from work-if some choice is allowed concerning-the specific forms of potential free title.A solid Majority 'Of workers wotad give up at least 2 percent of current earnings fortheir choice among five different forme-of free time, and about one-fourth claimeCa,desire to forego 16. percent or more of their income for_time. Anadditional finding was that the ways in which potential gains in free-time are scheduled is a major determinant of whetqler individuals, will-trade potential or current earnin4s for tiMe. (The Survey questions ar.e appended.) '(IRA) "Ima ReprOductions supplied by EDRS are the.best that can be made .* *, from the original document * A************************************************04****************** coExchanging Earningsfqr, Leisure: Findings of anExploratory National ccic; Survey on WorkTime Preferencesr S. C=I Lai R&D Monograph 79 U.S. Department of Labor 1 Ray Marshall, Secretary Employment and Training Administration Ernest G. Green Assistant Secretary for Employment andTraining 1980 This repoct was prepared by.Dr. FredBest of the NatiOnal Commissiori for Employment, Policy under Interagency Agreement No.A- 20.-11-78-36 between that agency and the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Researchers undertaking research and development pro- jects are encouraged to express their own judgment. Their interpretations orviewpoints do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of the Department of Labor. The author is solely responsible for the contents of this report. IP " a U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION I WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMEN*T HAS BEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN- ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED 1:10 NOT NECESSARILY REPRE- SENT OFF ICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY For sale by.the Superintendent of Documents. U.S. Government Printing Office Wnehington, D.C. 20402 The Qffice.of Research and Development of the Officeof Ipolicy, Evaluation and Research, Employment and TrainingAdministration, U.S. Department of Labor, was authorized first underthe Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA) of 1962, and thenunder the Comprehensive EMployment and Training Act (CETA) of1973, bo conduct research, expetiMentation, and demonstrationto solve social and economic problems relativeto the employment and training of unemPloyed and underemployedworkers. Research also includes national longitudinalsurveys of age cohorts of the population at critical transition stages in workinglife which examine the labor market experience ofthese cohorts. Studied are conducted on labor market structures andoperations, obstacles to employment, mobility, how individuals do job searches, and variepus probTems that pertain particularlyto disadvantaged persons. EXperimental or demonstration projects may test a new teahnique of intervention, a different institutional arrangement for dOivery,or innovative ways to oambine resources. Analyses of the results of the most significant ofthese studies, descriptions of process, handbooks of procedures,or other products designed specifically for planners, administrators, and operators in the CETA system are issued as monographs ina continuing series. InformAion concerning all projects in process or completed during the previous 3 years is contained in r- . an annual catalog of activities, Research and Development Projects. This publication and those in the monograph seriesmay be obtained,, upon request, from: Inquiries Unft Employment and Training Administration U.S.,Department of Labor ROom 10225 Patrick Henry Building ' 601 D Street,. W.W. Washington, D. C. ,20213 r FOREWORD \This monograph reports the results of anexploratory national survey of'the worktime preferences of American, workers and their willingnesS to tradeincome for leisure. The study, jdintly funded by theEmployment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Departmenfof Labor and the National Commission forEmployment.Pop_cy (NCEP), analyze's the response8 to a series of quIstions concern- , . ing how persons vould preferwtobalande 1,1/ork and leisuetiN_ if 'they had free choice Onsuai matters. How much income earninq work time might they exchangefor free time? What types of fred timewouth they mist preSer? How do time income trade-offpreference's vary among groups in terms of family cycle stage; sex, socioeconomic_position,and other, social characteristics? FinO.ly, if preferences for exchanging earnings for time arein fact different from, prevailing conditions, what are thesocial'policy implications? While the findings arepreliminary, pley are extremely timely and important. The study is unique in beingthe first attempt to calibrate the worktime leisure resultsi;hould be,of 1 p-refe?tnces of Americans. The interest to policymakers,researchers, and employers altke1/4. 0 , HOWARD ROSEN Director Office of Resedrch and Development iii A CONTENTS acle FOREWORD I. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OFFINDINGS . 5 II. FACTORS INFLUENCING'WORKTIME PREFERENCES T&oriesRegarding the Choice Between Workanteisure 7 Work Time Trends aPan Indicator - of TradeoffPreferences 13 The Prospect of ChangingTime- Income Tradeoff Preferences 19 Summary of Major FactorsDetermining Tillie-Income Tradeoffs ..... .. 46' SURVEY,DATiAND APPROACH TO'ANALYSIS 51 Survey Questions 51 52 Theample and Data Collection Precautions for Analysis 55 55 Confidence Intervals . a 56 Limitations of SurveyQuestions . 57 timitations of SurveyResearch . .. 59. IV. TIME-INCOME TRADEOFFPREFERENCES-L- I 60 :Generalized Time-IncomeTradeoffs Tradeoff with Two Percent 63 Scheduling Options . ExchangingTotential Incomefo'r Alternative Forms of FreeTime .70 Exchanging Current Incomefor 79 Alternative Formsof FreeTime .. , V. SONE POLICY IMPLICATIONS 103 --,7 WORKTIME,VREFERENCES B 104 Work iiime and the Qualityof Life Sharing Work to ComkatJoblessness 105 Mandatory WorkweekReduction i Restriction 106 . and Oveitime Long-term peductionof Work Time 107 VolUntary Time=-IncomeTradeoff'Options . /110 Short-time Compensatioh 111 . 118 1 ,Work Tim9 as aBarrier to Employment . the _School, Retirement, ond . Work, 127 . Lifetime Distribution of 4 I cr. CONTENTS (Continued) Page r . VI. OVERVIEW AND CONLUSIONS i 139 APPENDIXES APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONS 147 . APPENDIX.II: DATA COLLECTION MET DS 161 . APPENDIX III: ESTIMATING RANGES 0 ERROR IN SURVEY i UfTS . 163 APPENDIX IV: SECONDARY REFgRENCE TABLES . 165 qt, vi 11. 4. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OFFINDINGS If persons coun 'do astheyM&,how much income-earning Worktime might they exchange for morefree time? What types of 4. free time would they most prefer? How do time-InCome tradeoff preferences vary among groups in termsof family cycle stage, stx, socioeconomic position, andother social characteristics? If preferences for exchangingearnings for'time are, in fact, different from prevpilingconditionswhat,are the social, . / policy impliCations? While there are abundant .dataon.work time trends and m 4 nurderous studies of how groupswith varying social character- 1 . , istics resp6nd to available worktimoptitins, there4is little information concerning 'how personsm' t prefer to balance This .mork and leisure if theyhad free ch!Iiice on such matters. "11 report examines what peoplemight Prefer in,terms of balancing of work and leisure plioughtlie analysis of data from en exploratory nationaleturvey on work timepreferences. To set thestage lor this analysis, theoreticalliterature and ,existing data on time-incometradeoff choices are briefly reviewed. The body ofthereport deals with an analysis of nationally representative surveydata collebted in mid-1978. The nature .of the sample anddata collection process.,are capsulized, stated wbrker preferencestoward Occhanging incomi for time ate analyzede and thedata are used to address .the social policyimplications of survey findings. k Avail.able evidence suggests thata number cif social changes may be fostering'a desire om the .part ofa growing portion of the population to work less than wiiat We"now consider to be "full time., Among the most important of these changeshas been the rise in the number of workingwomen, many of whom are mothers who prefer less than full-time jobs,And flexible 'work slcheduling. .Pther significant