KEEPING up with the Joneses means longer working hours, especially when the Joneses keep getting richer.

And the situation is the same for the Johanssons, the Schmidts and Uncle Sams, according to research released today.

Increasing income inequality is leading employees to work longer in an attempt to emulate the consumption lifestyles of society's highest fliers.

In essence, the greater the gap between the rich and the poor at any given time, the more likely we are to work long hours. But when the income gap shrinks, working hours drop again.

International figures showed Sweden was the best example of the phenomenon.

During the social democratic levelling between 1960 and 1980, working hours fell by 12%. As inequality rose over the next two decades, Swedish work hours rose by 12%.

The study, in the Economic Journal, is based on the "Veblen effect", which sees one set of Joneses trying to keep up with a set higher than them.

Ultimately it is the very richest who set the top goal, which cascades down through successive income brackets.

As this target increases, said the study, so does our need for cash to fund such lavish lifestyles, and thus the need to work long hours.

Today one in six employees in Wales works more than 48 hours a week, around 20,000 more than in 1992, with our men working the longest hours in Europe.

But the report's claims that long working hours are self-inflicted in order to fund "consumption lifestyles" have been criticised by the Wales TUC.

Spokesman Darron Dupre agreed that people often do choose to work these long hours, but said that this is a necessity due to low wages.

He said, "There are people who look at the celebs and want to be like David Beckham, but people working really long hours in very low-paid jobs out of economic necessity is something completely different. You can't call that funding a lifestyle.

"Low-paid workers in Wales would love to have a lifestyle to fund but the reality for many is that it's a daily grind to pay the bills and if there's a bit of overtime they'll take it."

And long working hours are damaging to employees, employers and the economy as a whole, Mr Dupre said.

"When it's ingrained that people have to work 60 hours a week, it's not good for the company, and it's certainly not good for the individual," he said.

"Overtime keeps loads of men away from their families - they spend more time at work than they do at home. It's Dickensian hours in a 21st century society."

However, the lifestyles of the so-called "leisure class" have always inspired those less well-off to strive for the same trappings of achievement and social standing.

According to Steve Whiddett , a chartered occupational psychologist, we gauge our own success by what other people achieve.

He said, "For some people it's about a sense of fairness - they're thinking 'I make that effort so I want to have that reward because everyone else makes that effort and gets that reward'.

"The other is 'I'm doing better than you' - there are people that have a real sense of wanting to have their efforts and their presence validated externally."

But Mr Whiddett agrees that greed is not necessarily the driving force behind the long-hours culture in Wales.

"If it was straight greed then people would be doing it for themselves, but I would wonder to what degree it's actually being done for families."

Page 2: How long do we work?

How long do we work?

UK: 43.6 hours
Greece 40.8
Spain: 40.6
Portugal: 40.6
Austria: 40.2
Sweden 40.1
Germany: 40.1
Ireland: 40
Luxembourg: 39.7
France 39.6
Finlamd: 39.3
Netherlands: 39
Denmark: 38.9
Italy: 38.5
Belgium: 38.4