The time on a work-day spent on work and work-related activities in the U.S. is 8.8 hours (http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/chart1.txt).

While I'm here, I'll just leave this: http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/chart17.txt and this: http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/chart11.txt.

In Canada, which is culturally very similar, the typical lunch break us under 1 hour. in some strict places it's 30 minutes. People rarely go home for lunch. usually they bring lunch to work, or buy it, and eat in a common area.

No, we either go out to lunch or eat at our works cafe if they have one. But either way most people only take 30min - 1 hour for lunch tops. Unless someone is in from out of town everyone usually is back within an hour.

At least this is how most of the companies I've worked for and most people I know. But some do choose to eat at their desk, but why? I sit there all day.

Eat at your desk or stay later to make up for the time you took at lunch. It definitely depends on your industry and type of job but I don't know anyone outside of manufacturing/production/construction who actually works a strict 8-hour day.

It's really 9 to 6 or 8 to 5. Most people take an hour for lunch (nearby restaurant, onsite cafeteria, brought from home).