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Education, Work and Leisure

TAU Research Briefs

Changing Views of Education, Work and Leisure

Development of weekly leisure, work and learning time

Modern society continues to change, presenting a challenge to sociologists and citizens alike. For example, advances in robotics, informatics, telecommunications and medicine continue to reduce the time individuals need to spend on paid work. There has been a general decrease in all employment-related time, and a significant increase in hours of leisure, but more detailed data is urgently needed. A recent study by Dr. Yair Sharan, Acting Director of the TAU Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting (ICTAF), and his colleagues, presents some interesting conclusions. The gap between the weekly working time of the average Israeli and the remaining "free" time, which excludes such necessities as eating and sleeping, has increased by a factor of four from the '70s to the '90s. Presently work and leisure time are in rough equilibrium, although leisure is expected to surpass work over the next decade.

Even more important, there has been a rise in truly uncommitted time, which is expected to rise from its average current value of 5.5 hours a day to 7.0 hours over the next 20 years. We are thus approaching an era in which much of our day will be free from commitment. The potential social dangers associated with excessive free time call for a policy at the national level to cope with such rapidly emerging changes.

The average level of education in Israel, and elsewhere, is also increasing rapidly. The number of Israeli students receiving higher education jumped from 76,000 to 165,000 between 1990 and 1999 alone. Modern sociologists, however, see rising education as a double-edge sword. For example, educated people are able to find more interesting, rewarding and satisfying jobs; but their expectations about job rewards also increase with education, often unrealistically so. This can lead to net dissatisfaction and unhappiness (see figure), a serious concern to both scholars and national policymakers. Western societies usually regard increased education as the key to a better life, whereas current data suggest that over-education can be actually detrimental to one's overall wellbeing. Rising personal unhappiness could well lead to increased frustration, alienation and social unrest.

TAU Prof. Yoav Ganzach of the TAU Faculty of Management, however, seriously questions the validity of this previous research. Such prior studies make no distinction between natural (inborn) intelligence and subsequently acquired formal education. The two are obviously highly correlated, but which factor, if either, actually causes subsequent job unhappiness? When he separated these two factors, Prof. Ganzach found, contrary to the overeducation hypothesis that intelligent people, highly educated or not, are often dissatisfied with their employment. In contrast, any direct negative effect of increased education on subsequent job satisfaction was negligible. These new findings should have major implications for national policies which address these issues.