How Does the Gem State Balance Out Their Time?

Does Idaho have the proverbial ‘work-life balance’ everyone is looking for? It seems to be an ongoing trend that is gaining popularity by the day. Where a person puts their time is where their heart is. How does Idaho measure up, or better said, measure out its time? What is the difference from men to women?

How Was Work-Life Balance Information Gained?

The CDC was contacted on average life expectancy in 2020 National Vital Statistics Reports. Idaho ranks a decent 11th at 78.4 years. Men go a bit younger in Idaho than women, either because men are done and want it to be over or because women get rid of them to have a few years of happiness before they die, you choose.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics used the average life expectancy to calculate how much time was spent on 8 key tasks, after getting answers to surveys. I’m not sure that the BLS has this all correct. Perhaps the surveys were skewed in favor of the person being surveyed, or at least how they wished to be perceived. (Subtle but knowing glance at men in the room.)

Now, after all the information is compiled and analyzed by complex algorithms and math-type things, the results are put together.

Years Spent Working by State:

Idaho hits about average. If we wanted to work less, we could move to West Virginia or Alaska. But, I think this may be skewed. It shows the District of Columbia as working the most. Only support workers live in DC. All the bureaucrats live in outlying states and commute. They throw off the survey.

The breakdown by Males and Females:

This is where the biggest discrepancy between real life vs. personal view comes into play in the surveys. There is no way that men spend less time than women sleeping. They may spend less time eating since they don’t consider chewing to be a necessity when consuming mass quantities, so that's accurate. Relaxing should probably be increased while caring for children, and socializing scaled back. And, does pretending to clean out the garage every weekend count as a household activity? That’s the only way they are getting that much time in, and yes, that includes mowing the lawn.

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It would be interesting to see the survey taken by spouses. Have a spouse answer the same questions about what they think the significant other spends for each task.