How Little We Work

The Bureau of Labor statistics has released it's newest American Time Use Survey. Below are listed the daily averages for for adults. It is interesting to note that on average Americans spend only about an hour more per day working than watching television. The working number average is as low as it is because it includes all the adults who do no work of any kind (90 year-olds in nursing homes and 25 year-olds on welfare), but from an economic perspective that doesn't really matter. The average American spends less than four hours a day actually producing something of economic value. Imagine how much larger would be the American economy if everyone worked an extra 15 minutes per day -- or there were fewer people not working at all.