Why your 40-hour work week feels so long

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Monday, September 1, 2014
Workers at the Target Technology Innovation Center office in San Francisco.
A new poll finds that most full-time workers in the United States work more than 40 hours each week.
AP

Does your work week feel longer than 40 hours? It probably is. It turns out most American adults work an average of 47 hours each week, almost a full day more than the "standard" five-day, 9-to-5 schedule.

According to a new Gallup poll, half of full-time employees work more than 40 hours each week and almost four in 10 claim to work 50 hours or more.

ABC OTV/Gallup

While it might be easy to assume that some of those extra hours come from hourly workers clocking in a little overtime pay, it's actually salaried workers who log more hours -- five more hours each week than hourly workers.

But another explanation for the long work weeks may have to do with the number of jobs people work. While past data shows 86 percent of full-time workers have just one job, 13 percent have two or more jobs.

Do you work more than 40 hours per week? Tell us why.

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