Are Nonstandard Workers Nonstandard Parents? The Daily Rhythms of Work and Family in a 24-Hour Economy

Vanessa Wight, University of Maryland
Sara Raley, University of Maryland
Suzanne M. Bianchi, University of Maryland

Presser’s book Working in a 24/7 Economy (2003) highlights the increasing trend toward nonstandard work arrangements, suggesting that the hours in which people engage in market work are spreading over the 24-hour day and across the seven-day week. However, to date, few studies have been able to capture how the diffusion of work hours outside of the “standard” weekday 8am to 4pm range has implications for how time is allocated outside of work. Using the data from recently released American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we propose to examine the scheduling of work and its relationship to time spent in family-related and leisure activities. Using a sample of work days across the year, this paper provides a new measurement perspective on nonstandard work and also informs the discussion of the “costs and benefits” of differing parental work schedules with new information on family and leisure time allocations unique to time-diary collections.