If your job was running you ragged more over the Labor Day Weekend than it did on, say, Groundhog Day, you’re not alone. A survey released this month reports that nearly one-third of U.S. adults working full time have seen their workweek increase during the last six months.

In the Working in America online sampling of 1,052 adults nationwide, conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by management consulting firm Kronos, 32 percent of respondents said their workweek has gotten longer. Of those people, about two-thirds say they are working at least an extra five hours a week

The main three factors cited by the survey’s respondents for their longer hours are not exactly surprising. They blame inefficient staffing, management pressure to accomplish more and having fewer people to do the same amount of work.

When asked whether they expect relief from the extra workload over the next six months, only 19 percent said yes.

Even more common among employees is the perception that they now have more workplace responsibilities than they did six months ago; 62 percent said they did. During those same six months, 62 percent of respondents also said they did not receive a pay raise, even though the economy is supposedly doing better.

The results of the poll shouldn’t be all that surprising. Although we have heard plenty of surveys about how overwhelmed American workers are, economist Randy Ilg of the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the typical workweek is still around 39 hours — virtually the same as it has been for the past 15 years. Some people, particularly women, are working year round rather than just during the school year, so they are putting in more hours annually, but not longer weeks.

What we’re running into is the same sort of conundrum we have when we look at unemployment statistics: Government statistics say one thing, but the public perception is far different. And the truth lies somewhere in between.

I would bet that most people are working longer hours, even if they’re not technically at their work sites. They’re getting paged or called on cell phones or checking e-mail from home or simply having to focus on work much more during their “free” time than they ever used to.

On the other hand, human nature leads us to dwell on negatives rather than considering the positives. If you needed to learn a computer program in the last six months, you certainly have added responsibilities, but the program might allow you to get more accomplished in less time. Maybe the payoff won’t be immediate, but you probably will benefit in the long run.

(You might be saying to yourself, “No, it benefits my employer, not me.” True. But anything that allows you to keep a job and be more employable also does help you, even if the benefits aren’t as obvious.)

If you telecommute, you might work five more hours in your home office, but spend five fewer hours on the road. Sounds like a pretty nice trade — especially in places with heavy traffic.

A more blatant gap occurs with unemployment statistics. The U.S. rate in July was 5.5 percent, which historically is reasonable. But it measures only people who don’t work even one hour a week — not those who patch together freelance work because their unemployment benefits are too measly to pay the mortgage, and not those who are so discouraged that they have simply given up looking.

In these days, if you’re white collar and desperate, it’s relatively easy to find a few hours of work a week — but you’re still unemployed in spirit, if not in fact.

Then again, good ol’ human nature makes us focus on the five people we know who got laid off instead of the 500 we know who didn’t. And when’s the last time you came across a headline that said, “130 million U.S. workers keep jobs this month”?

It’s easy for us to dwell on the negatives, especially when things aren’t as rosy as they were a few years ago. Just keep them in perspective.