A single female friend and I were just discussing this over the weekend. She doesn't work as she is disabled but she finds it very hard to expand her social circle because everyone else is busy with work or family. It's very hard espeically for singles who do not want to hang out at the bars. We live in a rural area which makes it even more difficult to connect.
I've been whining for two years now that 40 hours it just too much. I have almost 3 hours in commuting time during the work day so that has made a huge impact on my "work" hours. I've recently been able to cut back to four days which is a god send just for my personal time, not even touching on social time.