Working 2 jobs is as American as apple pie
By Anonymous Thursday, October 12, 2006, 12:35 AM EDT
WE’RE ON THE RUN
He's off most weekends, but only if there are no extracurricular school activities.
Along with his full-time day job as a high school custodian in Spring Valley, Ill., he works four hours a night at a nearby elementary school and a part-time third shift job in floor care.
That's how it's been for most of the Marshalls' marriage.
For several years, he worked 15 to 16 hours a day - full time as detention hall monitor at the high school during the day and second shift as the high school's custodian.
His wife has never, like him, worked long hours outside the home, but after 17 years of marriage she's learned to accommodate.
"It's not too bad. If he had a factory job where I couldn't go see him, it might be different," she says. She and the children sometimes visit him at the grade school. "The kids think it's a big deal to help him clean desks."
Though she can visit him at the grade school if she needs to in the evenings, Rhonda Marshall views his work in terms of family. "My husband never, ever complains, but he and our family are the most overworked people I know."
Ask Marshall if he wants to work fewer hours, however, and he pauses for a long time.
"That's a hard one," he says.
The debate over how much time Americans spend working is harder than he thinks.
The term "overworked American" took on a life of its own in the mid-1990s. On the heels of sociologist Juliet Schor's best-selling book, "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure" (Basic Books, $16), the conventional topic of how much workers earn took a side seat to how long they work.
Schor's argument - that the United States was becoming the most workaholic of all industrialized nations at the expense of family, health and emotional well-being - tapped a communal nerve, especially among women.
Many workers didn't have to know the research Schor used to back her theories to know they felt like they were busier than ever. As more researchers explored and wrote about the topic, as work time gained more attention in the media, supporters tried to turn the concept into a full-fledged movement.
The third annual national "Take Back Your Time Day" is Oct. 24, which also marks the 66th anniversary of the law that ended long, forced working hours, bringing about the 40-hour workweek.
Without knowing about the day or its proposals, Marshall inadvertently touched on one of its main ideas.
"In this country, a person shouldn't have to work two jobs just to survive."
But theories about increasing work time and decreasing leisure time have as many ardent critics as supporters.
Some critics said Schor's logic was flawed, pointing out more people work part time because they can't find full-time work or, because of increasing job instability, more people work temporary jobs or as independent contractors. By the late 1990s, two time-management experts were openly challenging theories most associated with Schor's work.
In "Time for Life" (Pennsylvania State University Press; $24.95), John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey say Americans have actually gained more leisure time over the past 40 years or so - 40 hours of free time a week compared to 35 in 1965.
"People think they are working longer hours, but in reality they mistake the pace of work for length of time spent at work," Godbey was quoted as saying.
Along come economists Barry Bluestone and Stephen Rose to suggest, perhaps, both Schor and her critics are correct.
In an article in the American Prospect they write, "If individuals are moonlighting more - working multiple jobs in any given week - then the average workweek reported by employers can still shrink while the average workweek reported by workers can actually expand. It is also possible that one sector of the work force is 'overworked' while another portion is 'underemployed.' "
Having both parents working longer hours in the typical two-breadwinner household might not mean an extra trip to Disney World or nicer clothes for school, they wrote. More likely, it means keeping up car payments or just covering the cost of food and housing.
The Marshalls say all of John Marshall's extra work once covered extras like family vacations or entertainment.
"Now it's mostly to pay bills or to pay for the things the kids are in," Rhonda Marshall says. "After 17 years, we can finally save $100 a month. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's huge to us. We never had it before."
Three children at home, plus a grandchild, eat up much of the household income. From high school extracurriculars (for instance, $65 for basketball gym shoes, $75 to play basketball, $25 for choir) to auto insurance and maintenance on three vehicles, it's difficult for Marshall to say he would work fewer hours.
But in the past year, the Marshalls have consciously tried to spend more family time together - a theme of this year's Take Back Your Time Day.
"We try to have family time on Sundays," Rhonda Marshall says.
