Higher pay beats time off work

The majority of people in Britain say they want more money rather than time off work, according to a survey published today.

Almost 78 per cent were not prepared to work fewer hours for less money, according to a Populus poll.

People said they could not afford to earn less, that they enjoyed their job or were not prepared to give up things they liked.

Some professionals and managers (27 per cent) said they would be prepared to earn less in return for more free time, while only 19 per cent of unskilled manual labourers said they would.

There was also a regional divide, with 32 per cent of people in the North willing to cut back working hours compared with just 19 per cent in the South-East and 17 per cent in the Midlands.

Of those prepared to accept fewer hours, 60 per cent of men and 56 per cent of women wanted to spend more time with families.

Of those who did not want to change work patterns, 52 per cent said they could not afford it, 29 per cent found their job rewarding and 14 per cent did not want to cut back on luxuries.

Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,002 adults.