Slackers or wise ones? Utahns work the least hours in the U.S.
By Shea Drake
Do you think you’re overworked? You may want to rethink that statement. Utah works the least hours in the U.S., and southern Utah is no exception.
Utah, whose motto is “Industry,” works the fewest hours in the U.S. That’s according to Business.org, who analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau. When you break it down by county, it’s even less for southern Utah.
While the national average for workers aged 16 to 64, both full-time and part-time employees, is 38.8 hours a week, Utah’s overall average is 37.3 hours. When split by gender, men worked 40.6 hours on average while women worked 33.2 hours a week. Statewide, twice as many women work part time as men do — 40 percent of women work part time compared to 19 percent of men, which certainly contributes to the wide gap in hours worked.
The numbers for southern Utah are a little different than the state totals. The U.S. Census Bureau’s data for the southern end of state lists the average number of hours worked as 36.4 hours, with men working 40.4 hours a week on average and women working 31.8 hours a week. That’s due to the disparity in how much men and women work — 82 percent of men work full time compared to just 54 percent of women.
That means more than twice as many women work part time as men do, which is 6 percent more than the state average of 40 percent. This could also be fueled by the seasonality of jobs, especially when it comes to southern Utah where tourist season is slow, particularly around December and January.
Given that there is also a large Mormon population, it may not be shocking that many women who work do so on a part-time rather than full-time basis. Family time is important, and working part time can definitely help save on child-care costs.
There’s something to be said for making time for activities outside of work, whether it’s for family and friends or personal time. The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 72 years of age, and we know around a third of that is spent sleeping. If at least a third of that is also spent working (and that’s not even taking commuting or getting ready into account), that doesn’t leave much time for loved ones or hobbies.
Maybe Utahns have the right idea after all.
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