Working Hour and Intention to Have Children in Hong Kong Full-Time Workers

Abstract

This study investigated the working hour, work-life balance and intention to have children of full-time workers in a place without Standard Working Hour legislation and with very low birth rate, Hong Kong. Method used a questionnaire survey with 200 below 35, married, full-time workers. Results showed these workers had longer working hour (49.3 hours/week) than many other places in the World (40 hours/week). Most participants (around 70 percent) reported prolonged fatigue level, sleepiness and extreme tiredness and did not have time staying with their partner and family. The mean intention to have children score was 2.045 out of 5. Correlation analysis was performed between working hour and intention to have children. There exist an inverse relationship between working hour and intention to have children (r= -0.779). A plotting of the working hour against intention to have children showed some linear relationship between the working hour and intention to have children. Therefore, in general the workers with longer working hour were having lower intention to have children. To conclude, workers in Hong Kong, without Standard Working Hour legislation, had long working hours, poor work-life balance and low intention to have children.