Do Wealthy Nations Work Less? The Surprising Results From A Global Survey
Takeaway: As economies grow wealthier, total adult working hours barely fall; instead, economic development reshuffles work across age, gender, and public policy choices.
Key Points
Economic growth does not automatically buy national leisure: Overall hours worked per adult remain remarkably stable across both rich and poor countries.
Work is reshuffled by age and gender: Development pulls young people into school and older adults into retirement, while falling work hours for prime-age men are offset by rising employment among women.
Policies matter more than income: Shorter workweeks in high-income countries are driven primarily by formal labor regulations and social safety nets, rather than higher incomes alone.
It is a widespread assumption that as societies get richer, people gain more leisure time.
Modern technology enables workers in advanced economies to produce vastly more per hour than previous generations could. So why hasn’t the workweek collapsed into a fraction of what it used to be?
Understanding global working patterns helps clarify fundamental questions about everyday life. It explains why youth stay in school longer, how retirement systems alter the aging process, and why the economic roles of men and women have shifted dramatically across the globe.
Research
Economists Amory Gethin and Emmanuel Saez investigated how working hours change as economies develop, and what role demographics, taxes, and labor regulations play in shaping work habits.
To answer these questions, the authors assembled microdata from roughly 2,600 household surveys covering 160 countries—representing 97% of the global population. They analyzed cross-sectional differences across countries today, as well as multi-decade trends across 86 nations, tracking working hours while accounting for national tax structures, public spending, and workplace laws.
Findings
Globally, the average adult (aged 15 and older) works 24.5 hours per week, reflecting a 59% employment rate with employed individuals working an average of 42 hours weekly. Surprisingly, rising gross domestic product (GDP) per capita shows almost no overall correlation with reduced adult work hours.
Instead of reducing total work time, economic growth alters who is working and for how long.
Among the young (ages 15–19) and the elderly (aged 60 and older), work hours fall sharply with economic development. Cross-country data confirms that this drop is almost entirely explained by institutional choices: rising school attendance among youth and the expansion of public pension systems for older adults.
Among prime-age adults (ages 20–59), overall hours remain flat, but undergo a "great gender reshuffling." In developing nations moving into higher income brackets, prime-age men experience a decline in work hours—primarily through the elimination of extreme 50- or 60-hour workweeks.
Simultaneously, prime-age female labor force participation rises. As a result, increased female market work offsets reduced male hours, keeping total prime-age work hours constant while narrowing gender gaps in employment.
Finally, the study examines why workweeks are shorter in advanced economies, particularly in Western Europe. While higher labor tax rates correlate with fewer working hours across countries, the authors find that taxes themselves are not the primary driver. Instead, high-tax nations tend to spend more on social transfers and enforce strict labor regulations, such as maximum workweek caps and mandatory paid leave.
Once researchers account for social spending and working-time laws in the formal sector, the direct effect of taxes on working hours disappears.
Limitations
The study relies on standard economic accounting, which tracks market work included in official GDP calculations. It excludes unpaid domestic work, such as housecleaning, cooking, and childcare. However, supplementary time-use data indicates that when unpaid domestic labor is included, total workload per adult remains similarly stable across income levels.
Why It Matters
If these findings are correct, they demonstrate that economic growth alone will not automatically yield shorter workweeks or better work-life balance. Collective policy choices—such as expanding public education, designing pension programs, and setting formal labor standards—play a far greater role in shaping how societies spend their time than raw market forces do.
Learn More
Paper Title: Global Working Hours
Authors: Amory Gethin and Emmanuel Saez
Journal: The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Publication Year: 2026
Econ Today Explains
Economic Concept: Intensive vs. Extensive Margins of Labor
When economists study changes in labor supply, they distinguish between two different ways people adjust their work: the extensive margin and the intensive margin.
The extensive margin refers to whether a person works at all—the decision to enter or leave the workforce (such as taking a job or retiring).
The intensive margin refers to how many hours an employed person works (such as taking on overtime, moving from full-time to part-time, or capping the weekly schedule).
In this study, economic growth impacts women primarily along the extensive margin, as more women enter formal employment. In contrast, growth affects prime-age men largely along the intensive margin, as standard weekly hours per worker shrink.
This article was written by AI but reviewed by a real human.
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