Not that we really need government data to prove it – but, yes, a government survey has shown we are stressed for time.

Stress – it seems almost everyone you speak to is suffering from it. There are just not enough hours in the day to get things done and at work we are constantly being asked to give more and more.

And data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms it – we are a stressed out bunch and it’s not getting any better.

Parents are stressed – especially working parents and carers – leaving working carers at the bottom of a growing pile.

The ABS quizzed the nation’s 2.5 million carers about time pressures - two-thirds confirmed they were stressed and always pressed for time.

Carers also suffer more financial stress as most are employed part-time compared to workers who are not carers, leading to a much tighter budget and one which in many cases doesn’t cover even modest needs.

Working carers work longer hours than anyone else, too, when you take into account their at-home caring duties. Despite working those longer hours, working carers accumulate far less superannuation than non-carers, another stressor because it means they have to work until they are much older to be able to accumulate the same superannuation savings.

The ABS survey found that parents, too, said they were stressed for time, with both parents working in 60 percent of couple families.

The most common combination for those families was one parent employed full-time and the other, usually the mother, employed part-time.

And for 60 per cent of the same group, one parent regularly worked extra hours, mostly between 7pm and 7am. More than half also worked weekday-weekend combinations.

In 80 per cent of the families at least one parent said they always felt pressed for time ‘trying to achieve a work-life balance’.

Working mums were more likely than dads to be pressed and also spent, on average, twice as long (about 19 hours a week) caring for children.

Overall, being expected to undertake extra work hours and to work weekend shifts were the main culprits for cutting into family life, the survey found.

The data does not surprise Families Australia which says many families are under increasing pressure to balance work and family life.

“There is a concerning trend towards working unfriendly family hours,’ chief executive Brian Babington told AAP, adding that was putting growing pressure on other family members, such as grandparents, to offer care.

“Employers need to recognise that morale and productivity depends on family friendly hours as does the government.”