It’s Been A Hard Day’s Night: The Concentration and Intensification of Work in Late Twentieth‐Century Britain

TLDR

The paper presents evidence on trends in work pressure in late twentieth‑century Britain. The study shows that while average working hours plateaued in the early 1980s, the distribution widened and hours became concentrated in fewer households, work effort intensified—especially in manufacturing during the 1980s and the public sector in the 1990s—and the number of pressure sources rose markedly between 1986 and 1997.

Abstract

This paper presents evidence on trends in work pressure in late twentieth‐century Britain. The main findings are: (1) Average hours of work levelled off at the start of the 1980s, following a long historic fall, but have not increased since. However, the dispersion of hours has increased, and working hours have been concentrated into fewer households. (2) Work effort has been intensified since 1981. Intensification was greatest in manufacturing during the 1980s, and in the public sector during the 1990s. (3) Between 1986 and 1997 there have been substantial increases in the number of sources of pressure inducing hard work from employees.