Work Rich, Time Poor? Time-Use of Women and Men in Ireland

TIME-USE OF WOMEN AND MEN IN IRELAND

IV ‘SUBJECTIVE TIME POVERTY’ - FEELING RUSHED AND
STRESSED

Both international evidence and media reports in Ireland point to a
growing sense of time-pressure. In this section we examine to what extent
Irish people feel time-pressure and who feels under most time-pressure. We
also examine the link between feeling rushed and ‘objective’ time poverty. Can
we find an association with being time poor and feeling rushed in Ireland, and
what is the strength of the association?

The measure of time-pressure used in the time-use survey asks
respondents “did you feel rushed and stressed during the diary day”? While
this question refers specifically to the diary day, it is seen as a good
approximation of subjective time-pressure. On weekdays, 8 per cent of
respondents reported feeling rushed most of the day, 38 per cent reported
feeling rushed some of the day leaving 54 per cent not feeling rushed. These
figures are broadly in line with international estimates of feeling rushed,
though the measurement is somewhat different.¹⁹ On weekend days a much
lower proportion - 28 per cent of respondents - reported feeling rushed at
least some of the time.²⁰ Table 11 presents how this feeling of being rushed
varies by groups on a weekday.

Overall there is no gender difference in feeling rushed, but it does vary
strongly by employment status, the employed and particularly self-employed
being more likely to feel rushed. Those with children, particularly young
children, are more likely to report feeling rushed, as are those in dual-earner
couples, as suggested by Jacobs and Gerson (2004) for the US. The highly
educated (those with post-secondary qualifications) are also more likely to feel
rushed. In general the subjective measure of feeling rushed is highest among
the groups identified in the previous section as suffering from a ‘time squeeze’.

Distinguishing those who felt rushed some or most of the day from those
who did not feel rushed on a weekday, we model the impact of these factors
using a logistic regression in Table 12, model A.

Model A shows a similar pattern to Table 11 for who is more likely to feel
rushed and stressed. Those who feel rushed are: the employed (full-time, part-
time, self-employed) and those caring for adults or young children (under 10

¹⁹ For example in Canada in 1998, 53 per cent of employed respondents said they felt rushed every
day (Bittman et al., 2004). The weekday figure for Ireland is higher for the employed, but much
lower for this group at the weekend.

²⁰ While this is much lower than weekday estimates, 28 per cent of respondents feeling rushed at
the weekend is still quite high. It suggests that while having high paid work hours is associated
with feeling rushed, other factors contribute to this feeling as paid work is relatively low at
weekends.

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