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ONS: Average weekly hours worked drops by 1.3 hours

ended 22. January 2024

A new report has just been published by the ONS entitled Average hours worked and economic growth, UK: 1998 to 2022. You can read the full report here, key points below. Newspage sought views from a variety of experts, bottom.

  • Between 1998 and 2022, average weekly hours worked in the labour market fell by 1.3 hours, reflecting a significant fall for men aged 25 to 49 years who are full-time, and increases in women’s hours worked have been insufficient to offset this; average hours have also fallen because of compositional changes in the labour market, with more women and older workers present.
  • Since 2019, average weekly hours worked have fallen by 0.3 hours, reflecting a continuation of the same longer-term trends; however, the proportion of female workers working full-time has increased over this period and is perhaps an indication of greater flexibility in working arrangements.
  • The analysis of household survey data from the Annual Population Survey (APS) provides conclusions on the determinants of hours worked in the labour market and in changes since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; age, sex, marital status, nationality, housing tenure, self-employment, whether or not a graduate and occupation are important determinants of hours worked.
  • Changes in average weekly hours worked had a large negative impact on economic growth during the pandemic, but over the longer term, the decline in average hours worked has had a much smaller effect on the long-term growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP).

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Katherine Steiner-DicksVerified
Founder at BuzzVestor Media
For the ONS to claim a reported downtrend in hours worked doesn't sit right with me. Not accounting for the unpaid invisible hours - the emails answered at night, the calls taken on weekends - is like celebrating a harvest without acknowledging the sweat and toil. We also have top-notch talent being overlooked for roles because of antiquated 9 to 5 working rules that are completely unaligned with school hours. That means parents - often single parents - are taking part-time jobs but often putting in unpaid extra hours in the evenings. The true cost of progress lies beyond the official statistics. Growth built on unpaid hours is a house of cards: impressive, but precariously balanced on the backs of overworked, under-compensated individuals.
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Kim Allcott0
Partner at Allcott Commercial
The shift in prioritising work–life balance over remuneration is surely at play here. We've seen a sharp increase in flexible and part-time work requests since the pandemic, when people re-evaulated their lifestyles and placed more value on time outside of work. We have also seen an increase in men taking time off to care for dependents, suggesting that the gender balance here is improving (although also pointing to high childcare costs making part-time work more cost-effective than paying nursery fees).
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David RobinsonVerified
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
Once again the focus is on hours worked, yet GDP is a multiple of productivity and hours worked. The data shows "while average hours worked can have significant short-term effects on the economy, the downward trend in average hours worked has had a relatively small impact on UK economic growth over the longer term". This is because productivity has improved. The real lesson from this report then is that we need to continue to focus on productivity as this is key to generating returns for business and GDP for the country. With an increasingly elderly population and a negative view on migrant workers, a focus on productivity is also the only real option we have as a country to grow our economy. An elderly workforce is simply unable to sustain longer working hours.
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Cheney HamiltonVerified
CEO at The Find Your Flex Group
The decline in average hours worked had a significant negative impact on economic growth during the pandemic. However, the long-term effect on GDP growth has been relatively small. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about further changes in weekly hours worked, with certain personal characteristics leading to additional reductions or increases in hours compared to the pre-pandemic baseline. The decline in average hours worked since the pandemic has had a more significant impact on GDP growth. However, the increase in productivity has helped offset the fall in total hours worked. As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of work, it's crucial to understand these shifts and their implications for our economy. What does this mean for businesses, employees, and policymakers? How can we balance between work-life integration and economic growth? A push to outcome-led role design and shared workforce adoption appears to hold the key to our future success.
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Ben Foster0
CEO at The SEO Works
Over the time period in question, the UK economy has shifted, moving from more traditional industries towards the services sector, including finance, IT, professional services and hospitality. Employment patterns have also changed with the growth of part-time, flexible employment and the gig economy. Finally, technological advances mean that productivity and efficiency has improved. This means that purely comparing hours worked is quite a blunt tool to measure anything by. This is why the decline in average hours worked has had a much smaller effect on the long-term growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP).