Thanks for pointing this study out.

Interestingly, check out page 49. What is defined as total non-market work (Food Preparation and Indoor Household Chores & Shopping/Obtaining Goods and Services) has increased for men with children, whereas for women with children, their market work increased, but their non-market work decreased dramatically. Working through the study, I began to wonder if the findings didn't significantly depend upon the definition of leisure activity. Eventually, I began to search for an analysis/critique, which led me to this pub by Kristie M. Engemann and Michael T. Owyang at the St. Louis Federal Reserve, where they point out another study that found a slight decrease in leisure over the same period; of course, it depends upon how you define leisure.

Whatever the case may be, the discussion by Engemann and Owyang is worth considering:

Are Americans enjoying more free time than they used to? Not if you ask them. Social scientists John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey found that in surveys conducted in various years between 1965 and 1995, Americans increasingly felt rushed. In 1965, 24 percent of respondents aged 18-64 “always felt rushed”; this percentage climbed to 38 percent in 1992, but then dropped to 33 percent in 1995. Moreover, the percentage of respondents who “almost never felt rushed” fell from 27 percent to 17 percent between 1971 and 1995.

Economists Daniel Hamermesh and Jungmin Lee offered a different interpretation. The authors studied people’s perception of their time stress, finding that people who make more money—but did not work more hours—reported that they felt more stressed for time. Hence, the authors attributed at least part of the time stress simply to having too much money to spend, given the amount of time left after working.

These conflicting studies leave open this question of whether today’s Americans actually have more leisure time than past generations had. The salient difference in these studies’ conclusions appears to stem from what one considers leisure and who is being asked. Focusing only on working-age adults, as do Aguiar and Hurst, suggests that Americans enjoy more leisure now than in the mid-1960s. On the other hand, when school and work by children and retirees are included, Americans work about the same amount of time now as they did in both 1900 and 1965. However, no matter which definition of leisure is preferred, the broad conclusion is that Americans’ leisure time is, at worst, the same now as it ever was—regardless of perception.

I think an interesting question is whether or not we should be concerned about the number of hours worked or hours spent in leisure, but instead address that which leads one to perceive that they are working more hours, with the presumption that they are to less effect.

Maybe the hours worked is not the issue, but a stand-in for one less easy to define?