Leisure
Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst combined the results of several large surveys of leisure.In 1965, the average man spent 42 hours a week working at the office or the factory; throw in breaks and commuting time, and you’re up to 51 hours. Today he spends 36 and 40. Overall, depending on exactly what you count, he’s got an extra 6 to 8 hours a week of leisure — the equivalent of 9 extra weeks of vacation per year.
For women, time spent on the job is up from 17 hours a week to 24. With breaks and commuting thrown in, it’s up from 20 hours to 26. But time spent on household chores is down from 35 hours a week to 22, for a net leisure gain of 4 to 6 hours. 5 extra vacation weeks.
The average American is older now and has fewer children, but even when you compare them to their 1965 counterparts — people with the same family size, age, and education — the gains are still on the order of 4 to 8 hours a week, or something like 7 extra weeks of leisure per year.
The biggest leisure gains have gone to those with the most stagnant incomes — the least skilled and the least educated. The smallest leisure gains have been concentrated among the most educated, the group that’s had the biggest gains in income.