Stressed Out on Four Continents: Time Crunch or Yuppie Kvetch?

Daniel Hamermesh and Jungmin Lee

No 1815, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Social commentators have pointed to problems of workers who face "time stress" – an absence of sufficient time to accomplish all their tasks. An economic theory views time stress as reflecting how tightly the time constraint binds households. Time stress will be more prevalent in households with higher full earnings and whose members work longer in the market or on "required" homework. Evidence from Australia (2001), Germany (2002), the United States (2003) and Korea (1999) corroborates the theory. Adults in households with higher earnings perceive more time stress for the same amount of time spent in market work and household work. The importance of higher full earnings in generating time stress is not small, particularly in U.S. – much is "yuppie kvetch."

Keywords: feeling rushed; household production; time stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2005-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2007, 89 (2), 374-383

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Related works:
Journal Article: Stressed Out on Four Continents: Time Crunch or Yuppie Kvetch? (2007)
Working Paper: Stressed Out on Four Continents: Time Crunch or Yuppie Kvetch? (2003)
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