Rising income inequality predicts longer work hours globally, new research finds

A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science has found that rising income inequality is associated with an increase in the number of hours people work. This relationship appears to hold true globally, though the specific groups most affected differ depending on the societal context. By analyzing data from nearly seventy countries and long-term surveys from the United States and China, the researchers found that widening income gaps tend to predict longer work weeks.

Income inequality has increased significantly across the globe over the past four decades. The gap between the top earners and the rest of the population has nearly doubled in many regions since 1980. This economic shift has prompted social scientists to investigate how living in a deeply unequal society affects human behavior and psychology. Previous work suggests that high inequality leads people to prioritize wealth and status. It can also foster a competitive mindset where individuals feel pressured to outperform others.

Many distinct behaviors are associated with this drive for status. These include taking financial risks and engaging in conspicuous consumption. However, one of the most direct ways individuals might try to improve their economic standing is simply by working more.

The authors of the new study—Wenxuan Liu and Hongfei Du of Beijing Normal University, and Nicolas Sommet of the University of Lausanne—sought to better understand how fluctuations in income inequality influence the number of hours individuals work, and whether this relationship varies depending on a person’s social and economic standing.

“We’re seeing a troubling trend worldwide: despite technological advances, people are still working longer hours, reporting burnout and struggling with work-life balance. At the same time, income inequality has been rising dramatically in many countries, which has been thought of as a crucial factor that prompts individual status- seeking behaviors,” the researchers told PsyPost.

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“Previous studies have examined the relationship between income inequality and work hours, but most compared different countries or regions, which makes it hard to tell how income inequality actually relates to changes in individual behavior. Our study addresses this limitation by investigating how changes in income inequality over time predict changes in work hours globally and over the life course.”

The researchers developed two competing hypotheses. The first was based on relative deprivation theory. It suggests that inequality motivates disadvantaged groups to work longer hours to compensate for the gap. The second hypothesis was based on learned helplessness. It suggests that inequality might cause disadvantaged groups to feel that economic advancement is impossible, leading them to work less.

To test these ideas, the research team conducted three separate analyses. The first was a large-scale cross-national study. They combined data from the Penn World Table and the Standardized World Income Inequality Database. This dataset covered 69 countries over a period from 1960 to 2019. It included 2,798 unique observations of country-years. The primary measure was the Gini index. This is a standard statistical measure of income distribution where zero represents perfect equality and higher numbers indicate greater inequality.

The researchers found that a one-tenth increase in a country’s Gini index predicted an increase in annual work hours. “A one-tenth increase in income inequality predicted 60 more work hours per year globally—that’s over a full week of additional work annually,” the researchers explained.

The finding held even when the researchers controlled for the country’s Gross Domestic Product per capita. This suggests that the drive to work more is linked to the distribution of wealth, not just the total amount of wealth.

The second study focused on the United States. The researchers utilized the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. This is a longitudinal survey that has tracked American families since 1968. The analysis used data spanning from 1968 to 2021. It included 33,083 individual participants. This design allowed the team to observe how changes in state-level inequality related to changes in an individual’s work hours over their life course.

The analysis showed that as income inequality rose within a U.S. state, residents tended to increase their work hours. A one-tenth increase in the state-level Gini index was associated with about 53 additional work hours per year for the average participant. The study also revealed significant differences across social groups. The link between inequality and longer hours was strongest for individuals with low incomes. It was also stronger for Black Americans compared to White Americans and for women compared to men.

For example, the data indicated that rising inequality predicted a significant increase in work hours for Black Americans. White Americans showed a much smaller increase in response to the same economic conditions. Similarly, women tended to work more as inequality rose, while men actually showed a tendency to decrease work hours slightly in the same context. These findings align with the theory of relative deprivation. It appears that historically disadvantaged groups in the U.S. respond to widening income gaps by increasing their labor efforts.

The third study examined the relationship in China. The researchers used data from the China Family Panel Studies. This survey covered the years 2012 to 2020 and included 26,251 participants. This study introduced a measure of perceived inequality. Participants were asked to rate how severe they believed economic inequality was in their country on a scale of zero to ten. The study also tracked objective inequality using the Gini index for each province.

The findings in China differed from those in the United States. The researchers found that subjective perceptions of inequality were a strong predictor of behavior. When participants believed inequality was increasing, they tended to work longer hours. This effect was consistent across all groups. A one-unit increase in perceived inequality predicted roughly 10 additional work hours per year.

However, the response to objective province-level inequality showed a different pattern. In China, rising objective inequality did not predict longer work hours for rural residents. Instead, it predicted significantly longer hours for individuals with urban hukou status. The hukou system is a household registration program in China that ties access to social services to a person’s place of origin. Urban status is generally considered advantageous.

This finding contrasts with the U.S. results. In the U.S., disadvantaged groups worked more when inequality rose. In China, the structurally advantaged group responded to inequality by working more.

“In China, people’s perceptions of income inequality were a more robust predictor of work hours than objective measures, and surprisingly, objective inequality only predicted longer work hours for advantaged individuals with urban status, not for those with rural status,” the researchers said. “We suggest that due to China’s rapidly developing context, urban residents face greater competitive pressures and financial insecurity, which may amplify their anxiety about maintaining their position, and further drive them to work longer hours.”

Together, the findings provide evidence that macroeconomic trends have a tangible impact on individual daily lives.

“Working long hours isn’t purely a personal choice—it’s also shaped by the economic environment around you, particularly the level of inequality in your society,” the researchers told PsyPost. “Although you can’t single-handedly change inequality, understanding its effects can help you make more conscious decisions about how you spend your time. This awareness may help you consider whether overworking is truly necessary or if you’re caught in a societal treadmill. More broadly, addressing the issue of overtime work may require policies aimed at reducing inequality itself.”

As with all research, the study has some limitations. The data is observational. This means the researchers cannot definitively prove that inequality causes people to work more. It is possible that unmeasured factors influence both inequality and work habits. Additionally, the datasets did not include detailed psychological measures. The researchers could not directly test if feelings like status anxiety or envy were the specific mechanisms driving the behavior.

Future research could address these gaps by using experimental designs. Investigating other aspects of work-life balance would also be beneficial. It is unclear if longer work hours come at the expense of family time, sleep, or leisure. Understanding the psychological toll of these extra hours is a necessary next step.

“People may assume that rising inequality only pushes poor people to work more out of financial necessity,” the researchers explained. “But we found the relationship is more complex—advantaged groups also respond to inequality. In the U.S., disadvantaged groups worked longer hours, while in China, advantaged urban residents did. This suggests inequality creates competitive pressures that affect everyone, not just those at the bottom. It’s a societal-level phenomenon, not just an individual economic problem.”

“We want to expand this research to examine other dimensions of work-life balance beyond just work hours. For example, does inequality affect the quality of time people spend with family or their ability to disconnect from work? We’re also interested in understanding the mechanisms better.”

“We hope this research contributes to conversations about the psychological consequences of inequality and how people allocate their time between work and other areas of life,” the researchers added.

The study, “Rising Income Inequality and Longer Work Hours: Global Trends and Longitudinal Evidence From the United States and China,” was authored by Wenxuan Liu, Nicolas Sommet, and Hongfei Du.