Married to the Job: How a Long-Hours Working Culture Keeps People Single and Lonely

[jmyrlefuller]

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/married-to-the-job-how-a-long-hours-working-culture-keeps-people-single-and-lonely?utm_source=pocket-newtab

by Sarah Jaffe, The Guardian
April 15, 2021

 Hancock is one of the many people in recent years to recognise that they have devoted themselves to their work and neglected everything else that might give their life meaning. For workers across many sectors, long, irregular hours, emotional demands and sometimes low rates of pay mean it is increasingly hard to have a life outside of work – and particularly hard to sustain relationships.

Long before Covid locked us all in our homes, alone or otherwise, the evidence was pointing out repeatedly that loneliness and singledom are endemic in this phase of capitalism. Fewer people are marrying and those who are are doing so later; we are having less sex. A 2018 study found that 2.4 million adults in Britain “suffer from chronic loneliness”. Another projection found that nearly one in seven people in the UK could be living alone by 2039 and that those living alone are less financially secure.

(excerpt)