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Albertans have among the lowest leisure time and longest work hours in the world
Albertans are spending less time with their families than anyone else in the country and most countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
That’s the finding of the University of Alberta’s Parkland Institute. A fact sheet published February 17 by the Institute, Family Day on the Treadmill, states that an average Albertan has 182 hours less of social leisure time than the Canadian average. The Institute also points out that Albertans worked 7.5 weeks more in 2010 than the average worker in the top 15 developed (OECD) countries. Albertans also have fewer vacation and paid holidays per year than most countries in Europe and many in the OECD.
The higher number of work hours is exacerbated by the fact that only 17 per cent of children aged 0–5 in Alberta have access to a regulated childcare space, placing Alberta among the bottom three provinces in Canada.
The combination of high working hours, low vacation entitlement and lack of childcare space is not a recipe for a healthy and productive workforce. “Working this hard comes at a cost,” says Diana Gibson, Parkland’s research director. “It means less time for family and community, higher levels of stress and poorer health.”
Albertans have the least leisure
Albertans have the lowest leisure time in Canada. Albertans average five hours of leisure compared to a national average of 5.55 hours per day. Other provinces range up to 5.9 hours. This means that an Albertan has 182 hours less of leisure in a year than the average Canadian.
Households work more hours
Alberta is one of the hardest working provinces in one of the hardest working nations. An April 2011 report by the OECD places Canada fourth out of 29 developed countries for work hours. In 2010, Albertans worked 7.5 weeks more than the average worker in the top 15 developed countries. This is partially due to a combination of shorter workweeks and a higher number of paid holidays and vacations in other countries.
Alberta’s vacation minimum starts at two weeks or 10 days, and there are nine paid holidays per year. This vacation minimum increases to three weeks after five years of employment. In contrast, the average vacation in Europe is six weeks. The European Union’s (EU) Working Time Directive, 1993, sets the minimum paid leave for all EU member countries at four weeks or 20 days per year. Several EU member countries require substantially more than that. For example, France mandates 30 days of paid annual leave and Finland and Sweden mandate 25 days. Developed countries outside the EU also have generous minimum requirements for paid leave. Norway requires employers to provide 25 days of paid annual leave. Workers in both Australia and New Zealand have four weeks of paid leave and seven paid public holidays.
The 2010 Vacation Deprivation Survey found that 47 per cent of Canadian workers surveyed say they need a vacation more today than they’ve needed in four years.
Family childcare challenge
Alberta’s families are further stressed by lack of access to affordable quality childcare. According to the Parkland Institute’s March 2010 fact sheet, the government of Alberta allocates the lowest number of dollars for regulated childcare spaces, per 0–12 aged child, in Canada, and has done since 2003. Only 17 per cent of children aged 0–5 in Alberta have access to a regulated childcare space; Alberta is in the bottom three in Canada. Alberta’s total number of regulated childcare spaces has not grown appreciably since 1992, though the population and the economy have both grown substantially. High working hours, low vacation entitlement and lack of childcare are not a recipe for a healthy productive workforce or community.
The cost of working hard
Working hard comes at a cost. Working harder means spending less time with family and community and spending less time for personal health and activity. It means less time for parents to spend with children or in their community. It means less time for young workers to spend on social and community activities or studying. It means more stress and poorer health.
Studies have linked working longer hours to health risks such as depression, unhealthy weight gain and an increase in smoking and drinking; it also is linked to higher risks of injury at work. Studies have found that longer work hours can reduce time needed to “unwind when away from work; nurture family relationships and parent effectively; provide non-financial support to extended family members; and engage in voluntary community activities.”
What does this mean for communities?
Long work hours can also be detrimental for communities, by limiting the time and energy people have for community engagement and undermining and weakening neighborhood social networks and trust.
It is not coincidental then that Albertans rank among the lowest in the nation for sense of belonging to their communities.
The data is drawn from a forthcoming report on inequality to be released by the Parkland Institute in March 2012. Data is also drawn from the March 2010 Parkland Institute report, ACSW Social Policy Framework 2010: Visioning a More Equitable and Just Alberta, by Carol Anne Hudson and Diana Gibson.
References
Rifkin, J. 2004. The European Dream. How Europe’s Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream. Penguin.
Weston, R., M. Gray, L. Qu and D. Stanton. 2004. Long Work Hours and the Wellbeing of Fathers and their Families. Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Wilkinson, R. and K. Pickett. 2010. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. London: Allen Lane.
The Parkland Institute is a nonpartisan public policy research institute in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. The fact sheet Family Day on the Treadmill is available for download on its website at http://parklandinstitute.ca. The data used in the fact sheet is drawn from a new report on inequality in Alberta to be released by the Parkland Institute in March 2012.
