Media Clipping — April 30, 2004, The Truro Daily News

Nova Scotians working longer to make extra money

By John Christianson

Nova Scotians are working longer to make a few extra dollars and that's having an impact on their private and professional lives.

A new study released by the Nova Scotia-based think-tank GPI Atlantic shows that Canadians have more disposable income than they did 20 years ago but that we have less time to spend it.

"A segment of society has a reasonably high standard of living," said lead author Linda Pannozzo. "But people are having to work increasingly long hours just to maintain the standard of living they've become used to."

GPI is a non-profit research institute that is developing a new measure of well-being called the Genuine Progress Index.

The 500-page report released Monday, showed that Nova Scotian couples with children worked a combined total of 141 hours more than they did back in 1981 which amounts to an additional 18, eight-hour, workdays.

The extra work, however, only resulted in an eight per cent increase in disposable income.

The study showed there was an increase in unemployment and underemployment while unpaid overtime increased as did "involuntary" part-time work.

The result is work stress is up, there's a decline in job security and, with the 'growing polarization of hours, there is a widening income gap between rich and poor.

"The report clearly points to some troubling work and income trends in Canada and Nova Scotia," said Pannozzo. "We've got people who are over-worked from all walks of life – rich, poor, and the struggling middle class. And at at the same time we have a huge gap between rich and poor, and a growing class of underemployed."

The study states that voluntary work-time reductions would improve employment options in the province and reduce the negative financial and social implications.

For example, in just one week in 2001 the amount of overtime clocked in Nova Scotia was equal to more than 6,000 full-time jobs.

"If all paid and unpaid overtime were eliminated Nova Scotia would be 17,573 jobs richer," reads the report.

The report notes that the Netherlands dropped its unemployment rate from 12.2 per cent to 2.9 per cent partly by redistributing work hours.

Copyright © 2004, The Charlottetown Guardian