Washington — Full-time workers in the United States, on average, spend slightly more time on the job than they do sleeping during the workweek, according to the results of a recent study.
Guang Chen, an epidemiologist at NIOSH, looked at 2011-2020 data from the American Time Use Survey, which examines how people 15 and older spend their time within a 24-hour period. Chen focused on working hours, shift work and remote work patterns by occupation and industry among U.S. full-time workers, along with the association between working and sleeping hours.
He found that full-time U.S. workers averaged 8.1 hours on the job and 7.8 hours sleeping during workdays. On non-workdays, sleep increased to an average of 9.6 hours per day. Working hours showed a negative association with sleeping hours.
Paramedics and emergency medical technicians had the longest average workday, at 10.4 hours.
“The study findings offer essential benchmarks for comparing working hours and schedules across diverse occupations and industries,” Chen concluded. “These insights empower occupational health practitioners to advocate for prevention measures, addressing health concerns arising from prolonged working hours and shift work.”
The study was published in the journal Workplace Health and Safety.
