Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-250) and index.
pt. I. Trends in work, family, and leisure time. 1. Overworked Americans or the growth of leisure? -- 2. Working time from the perspective of families -- pt. II. Integrating work and family life. 3. Do Americans feel overworked? -- 4. How work spills over into life -- 5. The structure and culture of work -- pt. III. Work, family, and social policy. 6. American workers in cross-national perspective / with Janet C. Gornick -- 7. Bridging the time divide -- 8. Where do we go from here? -- Appendix: Supplementary tables.
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"In a panoramic survey, Jerry Jacobs and Kathleen Gerson explain why and how family time pressures have emerged and what we can do to alleviate them. In contrast to the conventional wisdom that all Americans are overworked, they show that time itself has become a form of social inequality that is dividing Americans in new ways - between the overworked and the underemployed, women and men, parents and non-parents. They piece together a compelling story of the increasing mismatch between our economic system and the needs of American families, sorting out important trends such as the rise of demanding jobs and the emergence of new pressures on dual-earner families and single parents." "Comparing American workers with their European peers, Jacobs and Gerson also find that policies that are simultaneously family friendly and gender equitable are not fully realized in any of the countries they examine. As a consequence, they argue that the United States needs to forge a set of solutions that offers American workers new ways to integrate work and family life."--Jacket.