on behalf of my colleague Lena Hipp, I would like to share the following call for a session on measuring working hours at next year's ESRA conference.

Dear colleagues,

we are excited to invite submissions for our upcoming session, “Number of hours usually worked? Methodological challenges in accurately measuring working time”, at the 11th conference of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA), which takes place at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, from July 14 to July 18, 2025.

The session is organized by Carolin Deuflhard (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Lena Hipp (University of Potsdam/ WZB Berlin Social Sciences Center).

Please submit your abstract (max. 300 words) via the ESRA conference management system by December 20, 2024.

Session Details

In recent years, working time has become increasingly polarized in terms of who works how much, when, and where. This shift is driven by structural, institutional, and demographic changes, as well as exogenous shocks—most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the session aims to stimulate a discussion on the methodological challenges and promises of old and new measurements for working hours.

How accurate are standardized survey questions on “hours usually worked” when employees work remotely, flexible hours, have zero-hour or multiple contracts, or are paid based on output rather than hours? For which groups of workers do standard survey questions produce more and for which groups less reliable results? How can these challenges be overcome? Can digital trace data and alternative survey questions help to accurately measure the time people spend on paid (and unpaid) work? What potential do survey experiments have for informing measurement strategies?

Session presentations can cover a broad range of issues in the field of measuring working time. Priority will be given to contributions that a) compare the advantages and shortcomings of different measurement strategies, b) focus on innovative approaches for measuring working time, c) address the peculiarities and challenges of measuring the working time of (specific groups of) nonstandard employees, and d) discuss the potential and problems of different measurement strategies for uncovering inequalities in working time based on gender, class, and race.

If you have any questions about the session, please do not hesitate to reach out.

We are looking forward to your submissions.

Best regards,

Lena Hipp and Carolin Deuflhard