Are we working longer than our ancestors?

OUR ancestors did backbreaking work for hours and hours every day. But are we working even harder?

More than half of Australians work more than the eight-hour day.

WHILE some of us are gearing up for the long weekend (not you, Western Australians, Victorians and Tasmanians — you got yours in March), it might surprise you to know about the genesis of Labour Day.

Labour Day marks the result of marches in the 1850s to rally for an eight-hour working day to give relief to labourers slugging away for 10 to 12 hours a day. In Tasmania, the holiday is actually known as Eight-Hour Day.

But maybe the hard-won battle by our ancestors for reasonable working hours was for nought. Research from Ancestry.com.au found that more than 50 per cent of Australians are back to working more than eight hours per day. So now we’re working more than our ancestors were.

The research also found that one in six Australians are in jobs that didn’t exist 20 years ago, including social media manager, sustainability consultant and Zumba instructor.

Five o’clock can’t come fast enough?

And it seems Australians want to be rewarded in their careers with more than just the pay cheque. Only 7 per cent said they were in their jobs purely for the money while 37 per cent said they chose their career path because of their interest in the work. But, 67 per cent said they wouldn’t encourage their children to head down the same path.

More than a third of Australians don’t know which occupations their grandparents worked in but one in five will be in the same position as their parent or grandparent at some point in their lives.

Ancestry.com.au released the research to promote free access, until Monday, to its database of your ancestors’ occupations. The brand is hoping you may draw some inspiration.

Ancestry.com.au content director Ben Mercer said: “One of the best ways to bring your family history to life is through discovering your ancestors’ occupations. What we do for work is a major part of who we are, and this wasn’t too different a century ago.”