Average Hours Worked And Economic Growth, UK - 1998 To 2022

24th January 2024

Analysis of the longer-term trends in average hours worked in the UK, more recent changes since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the impact on economic growth.

Between 1998 and 2022, average weekly hours worked in the labour market fell by 1.3 hours, reflecting a significant fall for men aged 25 to 49 years who are full-time, and increases in women's hours worked have been insufficient to offset this; average hours have also fallen because of compositional changes in the labour market, with more women and older workers present.

Since 2019, average weekly hours worked have fallen by 0.3 hours, reflecting a continuation of the same longer-term trends; however, the proportion of female workers working full-time has increased over this period and is perhaps an indication of greater flexibility in working arrangements.

The analysis of household survey data from the Annual Population Survey (APS) provides conclusions on the determinants of hours worked in the labour market and in changes since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; age, sex, marital status, nationality, housing tenure, self-employment, whether or not a graduate and occupation are important determinants of hours worked.

Changes in average weekly hours worked had a large negative impact on economic growth during the pandemic, but over the longer term, the decline in average hours worked has had a much smaller effect on the long-term growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP).

Overview of average weekly hours worked
For all those in employment, average weekly hours have trended downwards from 33.1 in 1998 to 31.8 in 2022 - a total fall of 1.3 hours per week (see Figure 1). More recently, in 2020, there was a sharp fall in average weekly hours to 29.0 from 32.1 in the previous year, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Since then, average weekly hours have recovered to 31.8 in 2022, but this is still 0.3 hours per week lower than before the pandemic in 2019.

This fall is relatively small, at less than 1% of average weekly hours in 2022. However, given total employment in the UK during 2022 was 32.7 million, it is equivalent to approximately 310,000 fewer people in employment. Over the same period, there has been an increase in inactivity of 580,000 people over 50 years of age, reported in our Employment-population ratio and changes article. Therefore, this drop in average weekly hours is significant in terms of its quantitative impact on labour supply.

Figure 1 shows that trends in average weekly hours worked are very different for men and women. For men, average weekly hours worked have dropped significantly, from 38.6 in 1998 to 35.3 in 2022, a total of 3.3 hours per week. Compared with before the pandemic in 2019, average weekly hours for men were 0.9 lower in 2022. In comparison, average weekly hours for women have trended upwards from 26.5 in 1998 to 27.9 in 2022, a total increase of 1.4 hours per week. This has also been the case since before the pandemic, with average weekly hours worked by women being 0.5 higher in 2022 than in 2019.

Although women continue to work fewer hours on average per week than men, their relative contribution to labour supply is increasing, both in terms of average working hours and total share of employment. When analysing changes in average weekly hours worked over time, gender is a consistent factor.

Accounting for changes in average hours worked
We make use of shift-share analysis to identify the factors accounting for the longer-term fall in average working hours from 1998 and the more recent fall since before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019. This is a technique that aims to break down total change of economic indicators into various components to identify underlying sources of growth or decline.

Shift effects reflect the weighted contribution to the change in average weekly hours worked by a particular employment group. For instance, if men reduced their hours, that respective shift effect would consist of the specific fall in average weekly hours for that group weighted by their share in total employment.

Share effects pick up the impact of compositional changes in total employment on average hours. For instance, if average working hours for men and women are unchanged, but there is an increase in the relative proportion of women in total employment, then average hours in total will fall because women tend to work fewer average weekly hours than men.

Along with gender, we consider shift and share contributions to changes in average weekly hours relating to the following two factors:

labour market status - that is the numbers of those in employment working full-time and part-time or holding second jobs

age - that is the impact of changes in the age distribution of those in employment

Labour market status
Figure 2 shows a decomposition of the 1.3 hours fall in average weekly hours worked between 1998 and 2022. The largest component (negative 1.2 hours) is accounted for by the decline in average hours of men working full-time. There was also a small negative contribution from women working full-time reducing their average weekly hours (negative 0.1 hours). In contrast, both men and women working part-time increased their average weekly hours, contributing an offsetting 0.1 hours and 0.2 hours to the total change, respectively.

Figure 2 also shows that men and women working second jobs had a marginal impact on average hours worked between 1998 and 2022. The overall share effects contributed negative 0.3 hours to the total change in average hours worked. This primarily reflected the fall in the relative proportion of men working full-time and a corresponding increase in the relative proportion of women working full-time in total employment. The share effect is negative because, on average, full-time men work more hours than full-time women.

Read the full ONS Report HERE