Leisure time in a typical week by employment status and gender

The bar chart illustrates the weekly leisure hours for men and women in 1998-99, categorised by their employment status. Overall, it is evident that unemployment and retirement provided the most leisure time, whereas full-time employment resulted in the least. Men consistently reported higher leisure hours than women, except in part-time employment.

Individuals in full-time employment had the least leisure time, with men at 44 hours and women at 37 hours. Conversely, those employed part-time, represented only by women in the data, enjoyed 40 hours of leisure. The unemployed and retired groups experienced significantly higher figures. Unemployed men had 85 hours of leisure, compared to 78 hours for unemployed women. Similarly, retired men recorded 84 hours, while retired women had 78 hours.

Finally, the category of housewives, which applies exclusively to women, showed an average of 50 hours of leisure time per week. In summary, the data highlights a clear disparity between those in full-time work and those outside the workforce, with the latter group enjoying nearly double the leisure time of their full-time employed counterparts. Gender differences were most pronounced among the unemployed and retired populations.