As well as the number of people engaged in long hours, the average number of hours worked by full time employees had also grown. Between 1982 and 2001, the average weekly hours grew from 38.2 in 1982 to 41.3 in 2001; and increase of 3.1 hours, or an eight per cent increase. [ACTU 2002] .
According to the ABS, (Appendix A), the number of people working 35 39 hours, 41 - 44 hours, 45 49 hours, 50- 59 and 60 and over hours have all increased by varying degrees over the twenty year period. The increase has been steady and continual, with clear trends visible, and the increases in these longer hours have been steeper than the increases of those working the shorter hours, so that it is not merely the growth in the size of the labour force. The rise in those working 50 or more hours has been substantial, rise faster than other groups within the data.
Work and Family.
The increase in work hours also causes a large societal cost for those juggling work and family. An indication of the large number of families having difficulty juggling the two responsibilities may be gauged through statistics of the working hours of married females. (Although this is by no means a highly accurate representation, rather it is an indication.) The number of married females working more than 40 hours has increased markedly over the last twenty years. Associated with this movement, has been a crisis in the childcare industry, with long waiting lists, and increase in prices associated the high demand, and significant behavioural problems that have been attributed to overly busy parents. Despite these trends, little government action has been made to alleviate the problem, other than measures to encourage mothers to stay at home, thoughbaby bonuses?, tax breaks for stay-at-home mothers, and the refusal to provide measures for paid maternity leave, and job sharing, and part-time work for parents.
.
Clearly, some redistribution of work within the Australian economy is needed to redress the stark imbalance between thework rich? andwork poor?.