ABSTRACT
The 1997 Changing Workforce survey provides a wide array of information about workers' actual and preferred commitments to work, family, and personal pursuits, which makes it possible to examine the contours and causes of actual and ideal working time. This survey is distinctive in terms of the range of questions asked regarding workers' values and preferences and in its focus on the links, tensions, and conflicts between work and family. Regardless of the age at which people choose to marry or have children, family commitments are almost certain to increase the need for domestic time. The larger pattern nevertheless suggests that family circumstances are as important as gender and that both mothers and fathers with young children want more time away from work than do other groups. Far from using work to avoid family time, these workers would prefer more balance in their lives, with more time for private and family pursuits.
