With Americans working an average of 1,800 hours per year and leaving around half of their paid time off unused, personal finance website WalletHub has released its 2021's "Hardest Working States in America" report.

WalletHub compared all 50 states across ten key metrics, said analyst Jill Gonzalez. Those range from the average work week hours to the share of workers with multiple jobs to annual volunteer hours per resident.

New Jersey is in the bottom ten on this list, coming in as the 42nd hardest-working state in the U.S. But that does not necessarily mean laziness.

Gonzalez said there are shorter work weeks, shorter commute times and there are not many people have to work multiple jobs in New Jersey, she said. So, in a way this is not all bad news.

She said it's actually good news for residents, maybe worse news for employers. "But if you're a worker in New Jersey, the income is still above average and the work week is a little bit below the national average, so that actually might be good news," said Gonzalez.

The work week in New Jersey is below average. Gonzalez said people are still working their 40 hours but in many other states, that number is higher. People in New Jersey use their vacation days. So, even though that means less work, it means getting in more vacation time for them. Gonzalez said another positive note is that the report found there are not a lot of Jersey households where no adults are working.

New Jerseyans like to volunteer, said Gonzalez. The number of annual volunteer hours per resident are high on the list. Average leisure time spent per day among New Jersey employees is about average. So, depending on how people look at it, these could be good things, she added.

Alaska is the hardest-working state in the nation, according to the WalletHub report. North Dakota is second followed by Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. Gonzalez said the agriculture industry with those long hours have a lot to do with these rankings. New Mexico is the laziest state followed by West Virginia, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Pennsylvania is 37th on the list.

To view the full report, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/hardest-working-states-in-america/52400.

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