On The Grind: DC Ranked No.1 Most Overworked US City

[appalachiablue]

- WTOP News, Aug. 19, 2023. - Ed.

First came The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, as Americans left their jobs in record numbers in the wake of the pandemic. Now, some say The Great Resignation is over, which means Americans are back to doing what they do best: overworking themselves. D.C. overworks more than any other major U.S. city — edging out Denver, Colorado and Austin, Texas, according to a new study.

FinanceBuzz collected data on 50 of the biggest U.S. cities and ranked them according to 7 workforce factors, which were weighted.

D.C. scored highly in most of these categories, with one of the highest percentages of multi-job households, workers who work more than 50 weeks per year and number of older adults still in the workforce. Three cities on the Interstate-95 corridor cracked the top 10: Boston was number 6 & Baltimore was number 10. The highest concentration of overworked cities was in the middle of the U.S., with Denver & Indianapolis flanking either side of an almost straight line from Minneapolis, Kansas City & Dallas down to Austin.

- Weighted factors. The study focused on 7 factors that were weighted by their impact on the workforce. [Read more about methodology, metrics & sources here]. The 7 factors are listed below: Average number of hours worked per week, Percentage of workers that work 50+ weeks per year, Percentage of households where 2 or more people have jobs, Percentage of active workers that are aged 65+, Percentage of workers in each city’s state who have 2 or more jobs, Average commute time, Percentage of workers with a side hustle.

- Leading the nation: D.C. had the highest percentage of workers over 65 years old — 23.4% of workers still in the workforce past what has historically been the age of retirement. The District’s 31-minute average commute ranked 3rd after New York’s 34 minutes & Riverside, California, at 32.2 minutes. It also ranked 3rd-highest in dual-job households with 61.3%, only behind Salt Lake City at 63.6% & Minneapolis at 62%. D.C. ranked 4th for the average weeks worked each year, with 64% of workers clocking 50+ of the 52 weeks a year, only behind Denver, Minneapolis & Kansas City...

- More, https://wtop.com/dc/2023/08/on-the-grind-dc-ranked-no-1-most-overworked-us-city/

[jimfields33]

1. Must not be including congress especially the House of Representatives the last year

[spooky3]

2. Maybe, but their lowly staff work hard for low pay nt

[jimfields33]

3. 100 percent true. And I should have said that. Thank you so much for reminding us of this.

[spooky3]

5. YW. Often in discussions of Jan. 6 the reporters and pundits

Talk about attacks on the Capitol, on Democracy, etc., but there were real human beings who were terrified and injured—police, Congresspeople, staffers, etc.

[bottomofthehill]

7. Spooky, thank you for reminding people of that.

One of the most haunting parts of the day on 1/6 was when the Speakers young staff was trapped in a conference room. As recounted in the hearings one young female staff member asked the other while hiding behind a table behind a locked door if she thought they(meaning the insurrectionists) were taking hostages she answered, “I think so”. When later asked about that the staffer said it was more comforting to think they were taking hostages than the alternative. That defined the terror of that day to me. These young peoples lives are changed. They were terrorized, it is that simple. And yes, they do work their asses off.

Also, I would love a 32 minute commute in DC. I can’t believe that is the average but I am now jealous of those that have it.

[spooky3]

8. Heartbreaking that they went through that.

I know some people commute hours per day. But theirs must be offset by commutes of people working from home, people lucky enough to live near work, etc.

[bottomofthehill]

9. The link to Kelsey Smith, Pelosi staffer interview, the worst two hours of her life....

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/pelosi-staffers-still-haunted-insurrection-easily-worst-day-my-life-064803211.html

[spooky3]

10. :-(

[appalachiablue]

12. ++

[GreenWave]

4. Just hauling out GOP bullshit is a 24/7/365 job.

[spooky3]

6. :-)

[IronLionZion]

11. And overcommuted

that's why people are reluctant to go into the office if we don't have to. Traffic has been bad even without it. And many folks live far away.

[appalachiablue]

13. I hear you, DC area commutes are horrible. Many travel from the expanded suburban

sprawl, aka 'exurbia' that has grown up since the late 80s in several outer NoVa and Md counties and even eastern WV. These areas have become part of the larger Metro area due to the increase in the cost of housing and population growth. Some service people in lawn care, mechanics, etc. live in the lower- cost Shenandoah Mt. region miles away and commute in for a couple hours daily.

15-20 yrs ago I was amazed to learn the commute time of people in other cities and states: Richmond, 20 mins, Pittsburgh, 10-20 mins, Ohio, varied, Balto., 15 mins.

I hope people don't think that most of DC's area population work only in major govt. functions like Congress. There are civil service employees in the federal govt. (after Reagan's axe), many locals that work for non profit organizations (not only lobbyists and think tanks), others in the private sector and also the tech field which has expanded like the MIC esp. since W.

[IronLionZion]

14. One of the biggest sectors is contracting

so many contractors will work in different places around the suburbs and exurbs. Unless they move every few months, they are bound to be stuck with multi-hour commutes. I had that back in the day. I went in to the office today but don't want to do it every day like before.