So the groups working the longest hours are the ones who enjoy the most privilege: white upper-class men. That’s striking, since more leisure time has traditionally been associated with privilege. As Boushey and Ansel point out, “If you Google the definition of ‘bankers’ hours,’ it refers to the ‘short working hours’ bankers used to enjoy, which is certainly not the case today.” In America over the last few decades, the association between leisure and privilege has been flipped on its head.

What happened?

First, we’ve gone through several decades now where there’s basically always been more people looking for work than jobs available. Workers are competing for jobs, rather than employers competing for workers, so everyone — including professional-class white men — is worried about losing his or her job. As Boushey and Ansel write, “rising economic inequality increasingly causes workers — even those near the top of the income and wealth ladder — to feel financially insecure.”

Second, the highest paying industries are also incredibly cut-throat. This brings us to Boushey and Ansel’s other finding: The professions with the biggest income gaps between their lowest and the highest paid workers were also the professions where people were the most likely to work more than 40 hours a week.