The study by Statistics Poland, the government-run statistics agency, examined the daily behavior patterns of individuals over the age of 10.
The amount of time Poles aged 15 years and over spent on employment has gone up by 11 minutes over the past decade.
“The increase in the duration of work affected women to a greater extent than men, with 21 more minutes a day spent on the job, as opposed to men, whose workday has increased by 10 minutes on average,” said the report author, Dr Piotr Łysoń, from Statistics Poland’s Social Surveys and Labour Market Department.
The average Pole now spends 12.8% of his or her day working, according to the survey. However, this figure refers to the total population, including retirees and people considered as “economically inactive”. This last group in the fourth quarter of 2023 comprised just under 12.5 million people, according to separate employment data from Statistics Poland.
The biggest change is an increase in the amount of time Poles spend on household and family care – 14 minutes a day more than ten years ago on average.
However, the increase in such duties, which now take up 15% of the average Polish day, “generally concerned men,” the authors stressed, with the duration of men’s responsibilities in that part of life’s challenges rising by 20 minutes on average.
The data does show, however, that overall, women still spend more of their day on such chores – a total of 18.2% of their day, as opposed to 11.2% for men.
Poles are devoting nine minutes more of their day to a category known as personal care, including sleeping, eating and personal hygiene.
Such activities take up nearly half of people’s day in Poland. Women sleep more than men, clocking up 8 hours and 38 minutes, compared to 8 hours and 25 minutes. Both sexes, however, are sleeping less than they were 10 years ago.
The use of mass media, including TV, radio and publications, takes up less of people's daily lives, as does socializing, according to the survey. Internet use, perhaps unsurprisingly, has gone up.
