The evolution of work: Exploit, industry and honour. A long-run international analysis

Does work time necessarily diminish with economic development? We use evidence from 16 countries drawn from the day-diaries included in the Multinational Time Use Study to describe trends in work over five decades. We demonstrate: (1) the approximate historical constancy and cross-national similarity in the total of paid plus unpaid work time over the last 55 or so years; (2) a gender convergence in work patterns and the approximate gender-equality of total (paid plus unpaid) work; (3) an apparent historical levelling-off of the paid plus unpaid work total at around 8.5 hours/day; and (4) a reversal in the human-capital-related work-leisure gradient (the better-educated now work more), which we associate with a growth of “exploit” and a decline in “industriousness” in the paid work of early 21st century societies