UK public among least likely to place importance on work, international study finds
The UK public rank among the lowest internationally for the importance they place on work, new data shows.
Of 24 nations included in a study by the Policy Institute at King’s College London, people in the UK emerge as the least likely to say work is important in their life, and among the least likely to say work should always come first, even if it means less leisure time.
Correspondingly, the UK has one of the highest proportions of the population who think it would be a good thing if less importance were placed on work – and this has risen considerably since trends began in 1981.
There have also been notable shifts in attitudes by generation, with Millennials becoming much more likely to say they’d welcome a decline in the importance of work, and much less likely to say work should always come first.
The study also looks at perceptions of people who don’t work. It finds only Sweden is less likely than the UK to say those who don’t work turn lazy, while the UK also ranks relatively low for the belief that hard work brings a better life.
The analysis was carried out as part of the World Values Survey (WVS), one of the largest and most widely used academic social surveys in the world, in operation since 1981.
The latest UK data was collected in 2022, with data for other nations collected at various points throughout the latest wave of the WVS, which spanned 2017 to 2022.
How important is work – and should it always come first?
Of 24 countries included in the research, the UK public place the least, or among the least, emphasis on work…
People in the UK (73%) are least likely to say work is very or rather important in their life –albeit on a par with Russia (74%) and Canada (75%). Other western nations, such as Italy (96%) and France (94%), rank much higher than the UK on this measure.
The UK (22%) ranks 20th for agreement with the view that work should always come first, even if it means less spare time, with only Australia (21%), Canada (19%) and Japan (10%) either roughly as likely or less likely to hold this view.
The UK has one of the most favourable views of people who don’t work: only Sweden (32%) is less likely than the UK (40%) to say such individuals turn lazy.
The UK (60%) ranks 18th for agreement with the view that work is a duty towards society, and several peer countries, including Norway (86%) and Germany (74%), are notably more likely to hold this opinion.
…and they are among the most welcoming of a future where work is less important to our way of life:
The UK (43%) ranks fifth for the belief that it would be a good thing if less importance were placed on work – above the likes of the US (29%), Italy (27%) and Norway (21%).
And 19% of the UK public think it would be a bad thing if less importance were placed on work, with Canada (18%) and Australia (20%) the only countries where such a small proportion feel this way.
