Comments on: Good news – we all need to work less

By: 21 hours – less work, more life « MAKE WEALTH HISTORY

21 hours – less work, more life « MAKE WEALTH HISTORY — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:08:19 +0000

[...] Good news – we all need to work less [...]

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:56:10 +0000

Yes, it’s not applicable to every industry, nor is it applicable to every country or economy at this stage – hard work has its place while it is still productive. The problem is in many cases further productivity would actually be harmful, and that’s the stage we have reached with a consumer economy where we have to go into debt to keep sucking up the surpluses of products.

I just made passing mention to them in the article or it would have been too long, but one of Roosevelt’s key measures in addressing the great depression was to make a 30 hour week mandatory in industry. This kept more people in work, sharing out the employment opportunities.
The Kellogg company did something similar, employing twice the number of people and doing two six-hour shifts in the working day. That was instituted in the 1920s, and continued until the late 1980s, because the unions kept backing it.

By: Zbyszek

Zbyszek — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:27:07 +0000

Thanks for food for thought. I do have some doubts, though. First, I do wonder if ever any progress is made if we keep the “work as little as possible” system. And I do not necessarily mean industries, pollution & science. Take sport for example. Secondly, if a small shop manager decides to sell only within 30-hour period, he soon will go out of business. Now once he does, he fires his staff. So two or three people are out of work (chain reaction). Thirdly, I live in Poland. Here, because of the communist past, we have to work to give money to those who are NOW retired or soon will be. This means that if I stop working, retired people won’t recieve their pension. As for machinery, yes it can be get idle once it has done its work but the problem is that machinery has to be ever more complex (which costs money). Some/most businesses cannot afford to get expensive equipment and then do half-time. In short, I like the idea but I doubt it is workable this side of reality.
Zbyszek