FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


"NATIONAL STUDY OF THE CHANGING WORKFORCE" REVEALS SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN WORK AND FAMILY LIVES OF U.S. EMPLOYEES

Study Includes Trend Data over 25 Years

For Many, Roles of Women and Men in the Home and the Workplace Are Being Transformed


New York, September 30, 2003—A new study released today, "Highlights of The 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce" from Families and Work Institute finds large-scale transformations taking place in the work and home lives of American men and women.

Among the study's key findings:

  • Today, women are more likely to work as managers or professionals than men (38% of women versus 28% of men), and are better educated, with 62% of women versus 56% of men having completed 4-year college or some post-secondary education.

  • Fathers in dual-earner couples today spend 42 minutes more doing household chores on workdays than fathers in 1977. Mothers have reduced their time by approximately the same amount. So the combined time that spouses in dual-earner couples with children spend on household chores has not changed over 25 years-what has changed is how family work is divided.

  • Employees with families report significantly higher levels of interference between their jobs and their family lives than employees 25 years ago (45% vs. 34% report this "some" or "a lot"). And men with families report higher levels of interference between their jobs and their family lives than women in the same situation.

  • As the population ages, more and more employees are providing elder care for relatives. In 2002, 35% of workers, men and women alike, say they provided regular care for a parent or in-law over 65 in the past year, helping them do things that they could not otherwise do themselves.

  • Flexible work arrangements are found to provide significant benefits to both employees and employers. Workers who have more access to flexible work arrangements report significantly better mental health than other employees, and are more likely to be committed to their employers and to plan to stay at their current company.

"U.S. employers are changing in response to the new demographics of the workplace, but families are changing even more, especially men," says Ellen Galinsky, President of Families and Work Institute and a co-author of the National Study of the Changing Workforce. "Today, men are spending more time on housework and on the care of children-and both men and women are spending much less time on themselves."

"The changes in the workplace don't appear to offset the conflicts employees face-longer work hours, more demanding jobs, and technology that blurs the lines between work and family," says James T. Bond, lead author of the study. "Interestingly, the study reveals that employees who experience the most spillover from their jobs into their home lives rely most heavily on technology to stay in touch with families and friends."

The five topics explored in depth in the National Study of the Changing Workforce include: Women in the Workforce, Dual Earner Couples, The Role of Technology in Employees' Lives On and Off the Job, Work-Life Supports On the Job, and Working for Oneself versus Someone Else. The report investigates a number of timely and important issues, including the "social glass ceiling" and work-life supports on the job.

The National Study of the Changing Workforce is authored by James T. Bond of Families and Work Institute with Ellen Galinsky of Families and Work Institute and Cynthia Thompson and David Prottas of the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, CUNY. The study surveys representative samples of the U.S. workforce every five years. Sample sizes average about 3,500, including both wage and salaried employees and self-employed workers. "Highlights of the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce" is the first of several planned reports drawing on this rich data set.

The National Study of the Changing Workforce is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the IBM Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola, Inc., The Ford Foundation, KPMG LLP, Ceridian Corporation, Citigroup Inc., Xerox Corporation and Salt River Project.

Families and Work Institute is a non-profit center for research that provides data to inform decision-making on the changing workforce and workplace, changing family and changing community. Founded in 1989, the Families and Work Institute is known for ahead of the curve, non-partisan research into emerging work-life issues; for solutions-oriented studies addressing topics of vital importance to all sectors of society; and for fostering connections among workplaces, families, and communities. For more information, visit our Web site at www.familiesandwork.org.


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Contact: Erin Brownfield, Families and Work Institute
212-465-8421
ebrownfield@familiesandwork.org


Further information on this study is available at www.changingworkforce.org.