Americans Are Lying About How Much They Work

Hang around in certain circles long enough, and you hear a lot about 70-hour work weeks. Then, after that complaint, you start hearing about 80-hour workweeks, and so forth in the arms race. People claim they fantasize about 60-hour workweeks, billed by some as the new "part-time."

We may feel we're overworked, but there's evidence that when it comes to estimated workweeks, we have a different problem than that implied by these sweatshop hours. Namely, we lie.