During 2002, the growth in total weekly hours worked in the United Kingdom levelled off. This followed a period of strong growth that had resulted in historically high levels by the middle of 2001.
The increase in total hours worked through most of the 1990s reflected the growth cycle in the economy. The level increased by just 1.3 million hours overall in 2002.
There was an increase in the level in the first half of 2002, followed by a marked fall, and then a recovery back to around 900 million hours by the end of the year. But this is a distortion caused by the effect of the extra Bank Holiday for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in June. The extra holiday saw many firms shutting for the day, with the result that hours worked were lower during this week.
One reason why total hours worked remained relatively flat in 2002, despite the increase in employment levels, is that average hours worked per person fell. Average hours worked per week fell from 32.5 hours in December 2001 to 32.2 hours in December 2002. This appears to be the continuation of a longer-term trend.
The fall in average hours in the year to December 2002 was driven almost entirely by the average hours worked by men, which fell from 37.5 to 37.1 hours. Women’s average hours declined just slightly from 26.5 to 26.4 hours per week in the same period.
In addition, average hours worked declined for full-time workers, but increased for part-time workers. Again, this change was largely driven by changes in men's average hours.
More generally, men work longer hours than women. In spring 2002, around 17 per cent of male full-time employees worked over 50 hours a week, compared with seven per cent of their female counterparts. Men working as managers and senior officials were most likely to be working these hours (38 per cent), followed by process, plant and machine operatives and then professional occupations.
Among women, those in professional occupations were the most likely to work over 50 hours a week (33 per cent, mainly teachers) followed by managers and senior officials.
Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics
Notes: Total hours worked may be seen as a better measure of labour input than the simple number of people employed. By looking at hours, one can attempt to get past the issue of changing working patterns, such as changes in trends in part-time and full-time working, and pick up on the fact that changes in labour market activity tend to affect hours before employment. For example firms may increase overtime before recruiting new staff in case a pick-up is temporary, or cut hours before laying off staff in case a slowdown passes swiftly.
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