Are We Working More Than Ever? What the Data Actually Says

In a world that feels busier, more demanding, and constantly “on,” many people believe we’re working harder than at any point in history. But does the data actually support that feeling? The answer — like most things about work — is more nuanced than the common narrative suggests.

1. The Big Historical Picture: We’re Not Working More Than Before

Contrary to the persistent feeling of being overworked, long-term historical data show that people in many rich countries work far fewer hours now than a century or more ago. Over the long sweep of industrial history, average annual working hours have dropped dramatically.

In the late 19th century, most industrial workers in countries like the UK, Germany, and the United States worked more than 3,000 hours per year — the equivalent of 60–70+ hours per week, year-round.

Today, those same countries typically see workers logging around 1,300 to 1,800 hours annually — roughly 25 to 35 hours per week on average.

The decline in hours isn’t just in the length of the workday, but also in the number of days worked per week and the share of the year spent working versus on vacation or holidays.

This extensive historical decline fundamentally challenges the idea that we are working more than ever in the grand scheme of human labor.

2. What Changed Over Time? Technology, Laws, and Culture

Several forces helped bring working hours down:

Technological Progress

Mechanization, computers, and automation significantly increased productivity, meaning the same output could be achieved with less human labor — at least in theory.

Labor Laws and Workers’ Rights

Across the 20th century, movements to limit daily working hours (e.g., the 8-hour day) and establish weekends and paid vacations became widespread in Europe and North America.

Social Expectations

Work–life balance became a policy and cultural priority in many countries, often codified in labor law benefits like annual leave, parental leave, and public holidays.

Together, these trends explain why average working time dropped so dramatically after the Industrial Revolution.

3. The Modern Reality: A More Complex Picture

Averages Flattened, But Variability Increased

While long-term trends show a decrease, short-term changes in working hours in recent decades are more mixed:

In many wealthy countries today, weekly working time has stabilized around 35–40 hours and hasn’t seen dramatic drops in recent decades.

In some places, like Canada, average weekly hours have remained very steady over the last decade or more.

So on average we may not be working more hours than before — but we also don’t continue the dramatic declines of the early-to-mid 20th century.

4. But Some Groups Are Working More

The average can hide important inequalities:

Longer Work Years in the U.S.

Analyses using U.S. government data show that total work hours in aggregate have increased by about 10–11% from 2007 through 2024, partly because more people are employed and work multiple jobs or overtime.

Two Labor Markets

Research from the Economic Policy Institute finds an increasingly fractured U.S. labor market:

Some people are working significantly more hours (especially women whose labor participation increased).

Others are disconnected from the labor market entirely.

This suggests that labor trends aren’t uniform: some workers experience rising hours, while others work less or struggle to find work at all.

5. The “Infinite Workday”: Not Just Hours, But Time Boundaries Blurring

Even if official hours haven’t skyrocketed, another trend shapes modern work:

The “infinite workday.” This refers to work leaking into evenings, weekends, and personal time, especially due to mobile devices and remote work tools.

A major global survey found that after-hours meetings and email checking rose sharply, with employees increasingly working evenings and weekends.

This isn’t always captured in official statistics, which tend to measure scheduled hours rather than every minute of effort people put in.

6. International Differences: Not All Work Hours Are Equal

Work time varies dramatically depending on where you live:

Some countries in Latin America, like Colombia, still have among the highest annual hours worked globally, even though their productivity per hour is comparatively low.

Meanwhile, many European countries — such as the Netherlands — have much shorter average workweeks (some as low as ~32 hours).

So the experience of whether we work “more than ever” can be very different depending on which country you study.

7. So What’s the Bottom Line?

📌 Long-Term:

People in industrialized countries work far fewer hours than in the past — a historic shift driven by technology and labor reforms.

📌 Recent Decades:

The average workweek has stabilized, not skyrocketed, but remains historically moderate.

📌 Modern Experience:

However, work intensity, blurred boundaries, and inequalities mean that for many individuals, it does feel like we’re working more — even if average hours haven’t increased substantially.

8. Sources & Further Reading

For readers who want to dive deeper:

Historical work hour trends: Our World in Data.

ILO global context on working time differences.

U.S. work-hours trends and labor market dynamics.

Statistics Canada weekly hours data.

OECD definitions and comparisons of hours worked.

Conclusion

So are we working more than ever? The short answer: not in the broad historical sense — but the story for modern workers is complicated. We might work fewer hours on average than our ancestors did, but work feels more demanding, continuous, and widespread than at any time in recent memory.

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