Work/Life Balance - Canadian Social Research Links

[links on this page are presented in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top of the page]

March 18, 2008
Study: Hours polarization revisited, 1997 to 2006
Fewer full-time Canadian workers are putting in long hours on the job, but the decline has occurred mostly among men and older workers, according to a new study. The study, published today in Perspectives on Labour and Income, showed that in 2006, full-time workers put in 40.8 hours on the job on average, down from 41.5 hours in 1997.
[ Hours polarization revisited, March 2008 ]
Source:
Perspectives on Labour and Income (incl. links to earlier issues]
[Statistics Canada]:

February 21, 2008
Study: How families respond to layoffs, 1987 to 2001
Married women in at least some Canadian families were able to adjust to their husband's layoff by increasing their own employment income during the 1990s, a new study suggests.The study, published today in the Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, assessed whether the earnings of wives and teenagers increased in response to layoffs experienced by husbands between 1987 and 2001.
Executive summary
Complete study paper (PDF file - 438K, 37 pages)
Source:
The Daily
[Statistics Canada]

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New from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development:

Improved childcare policies needed to achieve better work/life balance, says OECD
News Release
November 29, 2007
Getting family-friendly policies right will help reduce poverty, promote child development, enhance equity between men and women and stem the fall in birth-rates, according to a new OECD report. Babies and Bosses, Reconciling Work and Family Life compares the different approaches that the 30 OECD countries take to help parents balance their work and family commitments.

Babies and Bosses - Reconciling Work and Family Life:
A Synthesis of Findings for OECD Countries
The Babies and Bosses reviews of work and family reconciliation analysed policies and family outcomes in Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands (OECD, 2002); Austria, Ireland and Japan (OECD, 2003); New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland (OECD, 2004); and Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (OECD, 2005). This report, the last in the series, synthesises these findings and extends the scope to include other OECD countries. Based on OECD-wide indicators, it examines tax/benefit policies, parental leave systems, child and out-of-school-hours care support, and workplace practices that help determine parental labour market outcomes and family formation across the OECD.

Babies and Bosses (Vol. 4): Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Finding a suitable work/family life balance is a challenge that all parents face. Many parents and children in Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom are happy with their existing work and care outcomes. However, many others feel seriously constrained in one way or another, and their personal well-being suffers as a consequence.

Key Outcomes of Canada compared to OECD average

Selected Tables and Charts (Excel format) from Babies and Bosses (Vol. 4): Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom

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This book is part of the Babies and Bosses series, consisting of comparative studies of work and family reconciliation policies.
To get a more comprehensive picture of reconciliation policies, you can consult the first three volumes:
- Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands (volume 1) , which was published in 2002
- Austria, Ireland and Japan (volume 2), which was published in 2003
- New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland (volume 3), which was released in 2004

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Main OECD Social Policy Activities in 2006-2007
- click the link above for info about the activities listed below (incl. links to many key documents), or click a link below
* Family Policies (employment-oriented)
* Making Work Pay (ongoing)
* Policies to support and integrate the disabled of working age
* Pension system monitoring (ongoing)
* Development of social indicators
* Income Distribution and Poverty

Source:
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

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Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works and What Doesn't (PDF file - 3.4MB, 212 pages)
By Dr. Chris Higgins, Dr. Linda Duxbury and Sean Lyons
*October 2007
HMMM - this link is dead (Nov. 11/07 ) ===> Try going to the Research Findings page to see if you can access the report from there

Summary
HTML version
PDF version (PDF file - 345K, 30 page)

Source:
Health Canada

<begin date rant.>
* Hey, Health Canada --- how about dating your reports???
I couldn't find a single date in this entire 212-page report.
According to the Properties menu of the PDF file, this report was produced in either September or October 2007.
<end date rant.>

This is the fifth report in a series of six.

Links to the four earlier reports:
* Report One: The 2001 National Work–Life Conflict Study
* Report Two: Work–Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium: A Status Report
* Report Three: Exploring the Link between Work–Life Conflict and the Use of Canada’s Health Care System
* Report Four: Who Is at Risk? Predictors of High Work–Life Conflict
* Report Five: Reducing Work–Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn’t?
Yet to come:
* Report Six : Work–Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium: Key Findings and Recommendations from the 2001 National Work–Life Conflict Study
Source:
Public Health Agency of Canada

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Governing work life intersections in Australia over the life course: policy and prospects
Barbara Pocock
Posted 18-07-2007
This paper from the 2007 Australian Social Policy Conference examines the current situation of Australians as they put together their work and larger lives, under a particular policy regime. Pocock argues that an ethic of care needs to accompany Australia's well developed ethic of work, and that new arrangements are necessary to govern their simultaneous realisation.
Source:
Centre for Work+Life, University of South Australia

Mothers and fathers with young children: paid employment, caring and wellbeing
Jennifer Baxter, Matthew Gray, Michael Alexander, Lyndall Strazdins and Michael Bittman
Posted 16-07-2007
This paper examines how the use of child care, the time parents spend with children, and parental wellbeing relate to parental employment.
Source:
Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (Australia)

Work, life and time: the Australian work and life index 2007
Barbara Pocock, Natalie Skinner and Philippa Williams
Posted 12-07-2007
Work affects most working Australians beyond the workplace. Over half employees surveyed find that work sometimes, often or almost always affects their activities beyond the workplace (52.6% of the total) and even more find it regularly keeps them from spending the amount of time they would like with family or friends (60.7%).
Source:
Centre for Work+Life, University of South Australia

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What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

May 15, 2007
Study: Workaholics and time perception, 2005
One out of every three Canadians identifies themselves as a workaholic, and these individuals are much more likely to be dissatisfied with the balance between their work and family time than other workers, a new study has found. The study, published today in the May online edition of Canadian Social Trends, used data from the 2005 General Social Survey (GSS) to examine whether quality of life is different for workers who describe themselves as workaholics than for those who do not self-identify as workaholics.

Complete study:

Time escapes me: Workaholics and time perception
By Leslie-Anne Keown
HTML
PDF (75K, 5 pages)

February 13, 2007
Study: Time with the family, 2005
Spending more time at work and less time with the family? You're not alone, according to a new study that examines the time Canadian workers spend with family members during a typical workday. The study, published today in Canadian Social Trends, found that on average workers spent 45 minutes less with their family during workdays in 2005 than they did two decades earlier. Based on a 260-day work year, that amounts to 195 hours less, or the equivalent of about five 40-hour work weeks.

Complete study:

Time spent with family during a typical workday, 1986 to 2005
by Martin Turcotte
This study examines the time workers spend with family members during a typical workday. Using data from four different cycles of the General Social Survey on time use, it documents the evolution of the average time spent with family between 1986 and 2005. In particular, it accounts for factors that can contribute to an understanding of these changes.
HTML version
PDF version (105K, 10 pages)

Links to Canadian Social trends Articles by Subject
Links to earlier issues of Canadian Social Trends

Work hours instability
December 2006
Andrew Heisz and Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté
Discussions related to work hours are typically driven by cross-sectional studies. Much less is known about the longitudinal perspective and the persistence of long hours or periods of underemployment. The annual hours of employees are examined over a five-year period to determine what proportion experience variable work years and how their well-being is affected.
PDF version (409K, 20 pages) - this link opens a PDF file containing both articles above

Source:
Perspectives on Labour and Income

International Mobility: Patterns of
Exit and Return of Canadians, 1982 to 2003 (PDF file - 365K, 61 pages)
November 17, 2006
This paper exploits the unique strengths of the tax-based Longitudinal Administrative Database to measure the flows of Canadians to other countries and the patterns of return over the period from 1982 to 2003.
Executive Summary (HTML)

Source:
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
- links to 100+ research papers going back to 1994

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What's New from the Institute for Research on Public Policy:

The Use of Family Friendly Workplace Practices in Canada (PDF file - 526K, 42 pages)
September 2006
The increase in two earner households has changed the structure of the labour market, presenting employees, government and firms with new challenges. These changes have spurred an increasing interest in
new workplace practices and policies that may respond to the requirements of the New Economy. Research in the area covers a variety of fields in social sciences and has mainly focused on the availability of benefits to workers with families. However, a natural question that has only received passing attention is to what extent these benefits are being used by families.
News Release (PDF file - 35K, 2 pages)

Toward Squaring the Circle: Work-Life Balance
and the Implications for Individuals, Firms and Public Policy (144K, 28 pages)
Contents:
* Introduction
* Defining and Framing Work-Life Balance
*Demographic and Labour Market Trends
* Work Hours, Constraints on Choice and the Life Cycle
* Work-Life Balance in the Context of Labour Policy
* Conclusion

Working for Working Parents:
The Evolution of Maternity and Parental Benefits in Canada (PDF file - 218K, 42 pages)
May 2006
Table of Contents:
* Introduction
* Setting the Stage: The Changing Labour Market and Social Context for Families with Young Children, 1973-2002
* A Short History of Maternity and Parental Benefits Policy in Canada
* Sample Benefit Calculations for Five Historical Periods and the Quebec Program
* Statistical Evidence on Benefit Receipt
* What Are the Goals of the Federal Program and How Well Are They Being Achieved?
* Where to From Here? Discussion and Recommendations

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Take Back Your Time Day - October 24
Take Back Your Time is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment. October 24th Is Take Back Your Time Day.
- incl. links to: Home | Join Our E-Mail List | Handbook | Contact | News & Events | Media About TBYT Day | Four Windows Of Time | Public Policy Agenda | Support Time Day

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Getting punched : The job and family clock : It's time for flexible work for workers of all wages, (PDF file - 159K, 32 pages) J. Levin-Epstein, Center for Law and Social Policy, Washington, July (2006).
Source:
Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC[version française]

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30-Jun-06
-Report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recommends “free early education for all three and four year-olds.”

>> TOWARDS SQUARING THE CIRCLE:
WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS, FIRMS AND PUBLIC POLICY
Report from the Institute for Research on Public Policy considers “whether and how problems of work-life balance run across the whole spectrum of the working population.”

Source:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

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From The Scout Report, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (U.S.):

Study finds that full-time stay-at-homes would make over $130,000
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12613676/
May 3, 2006
NEW YORK - A full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top U.S. ad executive, a marketing director or a judge, according to a study released on Wednesday.

What a life: Working 9 to 5?and 6 to midnight..
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=137678

What is Mom's Job Worth?
http://www.salary.com/careers/layoutscripts/crel_display.asp?tab=cre&cat=Cat10&ser=Ser253?=Par622

Mommy Talk: Misconceptions about Working Moms
http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=5371

Digital History: Mothers and Fathers in America: Looking Backward, Looking Forward
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/mothersfathers.cfm

Working Moms Refuge
http://www.momsrefuge.com/

Over the past hundred years, a number of economic and social transformations have resulted in dramatic changes to the American family structure. While debates about this complex topic rages on, one thing is certain: Stay-at-home moms do a great deal of work, and the work encompasses everything from managing household finances to counseling children (and sometimes even their own spouse). This week, the staff at Waltham-based Salary.com released an intriguing study that shows that a full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if she were paid for all the diverse tasks she performs. This amount is similar to the annual wage earned by an ad executive or judge. In order to tabulate these predicted earnings, the survey administrators calculated the earning power of the jobs that 'most closely comprise a mother's role?. Of course, this included such professions as janitor, van driver, psychologists, day-care teacher, as well as several others. Some of the prevailing sentiment among mothers upon hearing about the study can be summed up best by the forthright remarks made by Dr. Laura Riley, a mother of two: "There is no price tag-I'm priceless."

The first link [above] leads to coverage of this story from MSNBC.com, complete with a video commentary by newscaster, Lisa Daniels. The second link will take users to a piece from this Wednesday?s Boston Herald that offers additional insight into the study. The third link takes users to the special page on the wages of stay-at-homes created by Salary.com. The fourth link whisks users away to a very interesting commentary by Marci Laehr (a working mom) on the debates about whether or not to stay-at home full-time after the birth of a child. Visitors can also chime in with their own opinions here, if they so desire. The fifth link leads to a fine essay offered by Professor Steven Mintz of the University of Utah on the changing roles of mothers and fathers in America over the past few hundred years. The final link, appropriately enough, leads to a bit of an electronic refuge for working moms. Here users will find tips for single moms seeking to maintain some balance between their careers and their family life.

The six links and the review above are from The Scout Report,
Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2006. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Work-Life Balance

L'équilibre entre le travail et la vie personnelle