Americans have always been spending too much time on work and don't get enough time for sleep? This is not true according to the recent government survey.

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From the latest American Time Use Survey, released Thursday by the Labor Department, "the average American aged 15 or older on average spent eight hours and 44 minutes snoozing last year. That is just one minute more on the previous year."

The New Republic notes "the young and old are skewing the data by sleeping more than nine hours a day."

The survey has includes both employed and unemployed people, found "Americans spend just three hours and 32 minutes at work, but two hours and fifty minutes in front of the tube." And the survey has been annually being conducted since 2003.

Geoffrey Godbey, who is a professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of "Time For Life: The Surprising Ways Americans Use Their Time", said in The Wall Street Journal interview "the figures reflect changes in the American population, and the aging of America's population means fewer people are working and more retirees are at home watching TV."

The study has also revealed "women have become a larger share of America's labor force, but tend to work fewer hours than men do. And with less time spent at work, Americans will spend most of their day on leisure activities. That includes eating and drinking (1 hour, 15 minutes), shopping (43 minutes) and leisure and sports (two hours, 32 minutes)."