IT pros' excessive workload 'a myth'

By Staff Writers

May 4 2007 12:34PM

IT professionals in the US work fewer hours than almost anyone else, says
survey.

Computer and mathematics professionals work fewer hours than members of most other professions, a new report has revealed.

The workers clocked up an average 42 hours and 24 minutes a week in 2006, according to a survey conducted by the US Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This amounts to one hour 42 minutes less than the average for professional occupations, but one hour six minutes more than workers in the education/training/library sector.

Professionals in the life/physical/social sciences, community/social services and arts/design/entertainment/sports/media sectors all worked an average of 42:54 in 2006, according to the statistics.

The healthcare practitioner/technical sector clocked up an average 43 hours and six minutes, and architecture/engineering 43 hours and 30 minutes.

Topping the chart were those in legal and management positions, working 44 hours and 54 minutes and 46 hours and 24 minutes respectively.

Representatives from the Census Bureau interview around 100,000 adults every month, either in person or over the phone, garnering details about their jobs and the jobs of over 16 year-olds who live with them.

Each survey results in the respondent being designated as working in one of over 800 occupations grouped into the eight broad occupational categories mentioned above.

Forums and message boards across the internet are awash with incredulous disbelief at the figures, however, as IT is generally considered a profession where long hours and unpaid overtime are considered the norm.

Many commentators also noted that the time spent at a job does not necessarily reflect on productivity.

The naysayers can take some solace in the fact that closer inspection of the figures reveals that the survey group's average weekly hours are divided into six groups of 35-39, 40, 41-44, 45-48, 49-59 and 60 or more hours a week, and that nearly 21 per cent of the respondents fell into the two last groups.