Implications of Hours Worked for Inequality and Poverty: Final Report

The amount of time that people spend in paid work has a major influence on both individual earnings and household incomes. As such, differences in hours worked across different groups of worker or types of household can have a major influence on income inequality and poverty. Changes in patterns of work over time have also been a major driver of trends in inequality within and between different groups of workers. But what determines the patterns of working hours that we see today? And why has the distribution of hours worked changed over time? Does it reflect changes in the requirements of employers, or changing preferences of workers? And what are the implications for wellbeing, job satisfaction, inequality and poverty? The objectives of this project are to analyse changing patterns of working hours, consider what drives changes, examine how they affect inequality, poverty and wellbeing, and explore how policy might respond.