Work-life balance

Time

Work-life balance

Achieving an appropriate work-life balance is vital to many in our community.

Time spent on work

This measure shows how Canberrans feel about their work-life balance and whether we are spending about the right amount of time doing paid work.

How we feel about our ability to balance our lives with our work can have a big impact on our overall levels of wellbeing.

Self-reported work life balance has remained relatively stable in recent years, with 57.0% of Canberrans reporting doing 'about the right amount' of work in 2024, compared to 62.0% in 2022.

However, underemployment as measured by the survey has been on the rise, with 18.5% reporting not having as much paid work as they wanted, compared to 12.9% in 2022.

Data for this indicator are sourced from the University of Canberra Living Well in the ACT Region survey. Detailed survey data, survey user guide and published reports from the survey can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.

Line graph of percentage of respondents’ feelings about time spent on paid work in the ACT, between 2019 and 2024.

In 2024:

  • 57.0% reported doing ‘about right time’ in paid work compared to 62% in 2022
  • 24.5% reported doing ‘too much time’ in paid work compared to 25.1% in 2022
  • 18.5% reported doing ‘too little time’ in paid work compared to 12.9% in 2022.

The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing and resilience of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing and resilience at the individual, household, community and regional level.

When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population.

Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability. Not all differences over time or between groups are statistically significant: information on confidence intervals for the data presented here is available in data tables that can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.

Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.

Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting regionalwellbeing@canberra.edu.au.