Aims
The focus of the research is how men’s actual and desired hours of work in Switzerland relate to occupation, and, for partnered men, to their partner’s earnings and hours. The secondary focus is a cross-national comparison of Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, recognising the further the role of regional variation, e.g. by linguistic region.
Background and Significance:
In recent times the length of the working week has attracted renewed attention both as a marker of social inequality and as an instrument for achieving social objectives. In terms of social inequality, long hours have become symbolic of high status jobs and are in themselves a sign of status. Employers have increasingly used long hours as a way of screening workers’ commitment and productivity. In contrast workers in low status jobs would often like to work longer hours out of financial necessity, but are unable to do this because of the nature of the jobs they work in. In a policy context, interest has focussed on trying to limit workers’ hours for a variety of reasons. For example, in France a reduction in the length of the working week has been used as an instrument for tackling unemployment. Efforts to facilitate dual-earner couples have seen job hours’ flexibility and a reduction in hours as a means to achieve this end. Long hours not only heighten work-family conflict but also adversely affect health. Studying the duration of men’s working hours not only adds to our understanding of occupational status and men’s lives but it is also an endeavour to bring men back into the analysis of how societies, households, and gendered individuals manage paid work and unpaid care. The topic is of critical societal significance as is evidenced by a high proportion of working men reporting that their prefered hours of work are different from their actual hours.
