April 27, 2007
Do Computer Pros Work Less Than Others?
By Eric Chabrow
Hard to believe, but IT workers log fewer hours on the job than most other professionals, government data reveals.
“Among eight broad professional occupations tracked by the government, only one category–consisting of educators, trainers and librarians–average fewer hours at work each week.
The occupation category comprising computer and mathematical professionals [math occupations such as actuaries, operational research analysis and statisticians make up less than 5 percent of the category] who usually work fulltime averaged 42 hours, 24 minutes on the job each week in 2006, according to a survey of American households conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s one hour, 42 minutes less than all professional occupations combined, but one hour, six minutes more each week than education/training/library.
Legal professionals put in the most time, at 44 hours, 54 minutes. Their bosses put in even longer hours. Managers of all stripes averaged 46 hours, 24 minutes of work each week in 2006.”
I wonder. Maybe we just don’t count all the unpaid work!! Or, they’re not surveying me!
Stephen
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3 Responses
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Or we are more honest.
Doug
This is just speculation, but I have a few suggestions on this: Perhaps it reflects our profession’s (and for that matter – teaching’s) gender imbalance? If day care closes at 5:00 and you have a 25 minute commute you are never, ever, ever at work later than 4:35. Now that doesn’t mean you don’t spend an hour after bedtime reading through the library’s strategic plan, but I would guess that many women forget to count that time. I would also estimate that professions that bill by the minute (lawyers) are more likely to remember exactly how much time they spent on a specific task than professions that are salaried. I would like to see the study take these factors into account, anyway.
I like to think that with our information management skills, we work smarter, not longer. That’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I think that information pros struggle with computers less and get them to accomplish more in less time. And of course, librarians are trained to find answers to questions and problems faster than anyone else!
Actually, full time at my library is 35.5 hours a week. And we have many part-time staff. It could be that the survey reflects the large number of part-time staff in these professions, but I do think that you’ve got a very valid point with the amount of unpaid work that educators, including librarians, do.