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value_bet t1_j44mer4 wrote

This data seems kinda sus. People only work ~4 hours a day, but they sleep almost 9? Am I living in some bubble where people work 40 hours a week?!

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PersonalityKoala t1_j44vnaz wrote

It's because there is 7 days in a week but we only work 5 days.

So 40/7 is 5.71 hours per day

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value_bet t1_j450ucb wrote

That I would understand. But the chart has average in the US at just over 4 hours.

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Brainsonastick t1_j457197 wrote

It’s averaging over a bunch of people who don’t work at all and those who only work part time and those who work full time or even more.

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BroadElderberry t1_j46tzda wrote

It's an average over ages 15-64. So they're including a lot of people whose work hours are close to 0, which is going to lower the average.

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greenappletree t1_j4a0dds wrote

if thats the case then they should had use the median or have a seperate chart of only people working.

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BroadElderberry t1_j4b71p7 wrote

I mean, that's how averages work. They're one view of the data, that includes the extreme values. They aren't a complete picture, but they have their value.

In this chart, the exact values aren't what's being showcased, it's more how values compare between countries.

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tfcallahan1 t1_j4dp99v wrote

Agree - if all things are equal the percentage differences in say the work hours is what's informative. Although things like a different amount of 15-21 year olds that typically work or don't work in the country will skew the numbers.

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BroadElderberry t1_j4e3fe5 wrote

You can go down that rabbit hole for years. Unemployment rates in each country will also skew numbers. So can social security/retirement qualifications. For an analysis like this, you have to pick a range, and you have to apply it equally against all test subjects (in this case, countries).

I'd guess they made their choice based on a calculated averages of starting/stopping work.

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tfcallahan1 t1_j4fvdah wrote

Yeah. So a question is does this graph provide any useful information? If it were restricted to say persons employed full time between certain ages it would provide information for each country that can be more directly compared.

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BroadElderberry t1_j4hnr86 wrote

I think it does. It gives average times spent on certain activities for people aged 15-64 across several countries. As long as you understand what each of the bolded phrases mean and the influence they have on the outcome, it's a very useful and interesting graph.

There's a reason statistics is an entire field. Making assumptions or expecting a graph to say something it isn't is super easy to do.

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No-Establishment4222 t1_j473pnn wrote

I know a lot of people who work way less but also people who work 70 hours. It's about averages ofcourse.

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