Derek Thompson's A World Without Work

In Derek Thompson’s “A World Without Work” he cites John Maynard Keynes, who once predicted technological progress would allow for a 15 hour work week, yet according to the US bureau of labor statistics, in 2015 the average full time employee was working 8.06 hours a day. This adds up to be approximately 40.3 hours per week. In order to stay competitive in the global economy, America has kept the workforce working longer hours compared to other economically competitive countries even though it has been detrimental to the workforce’s health. The most bothersome part though is that the long hours are not even necessary. France, a country with a GDP per capita of $42,200 according to the C.I.A. World Fact Book, works on average 12 hours less a

More time with their families means they can take care of domestic stress, because according to APA “73 percent of parents report family responsibilities as a significant source of stress”. Considering 73% of parents attribute family responsibilities as a main source of stress allowing more time for them to take care of their family and their family responsibilities as stated by Hartesh Pannu, who is a professor at Chandigarh Group Of Colleges in a study on the outcomes of stress “spending more time with kids” reduces stress. This would benefit the employee and the employer. The employee because they would have less stress to deal with in general. This would also help the employer, because a less stressed workforce means a more productive force. With this more productive workforce the employees themselves have less stress at

With a lower unemployment rate the government is able to spend less time and money on the social services such as food stamps or welfare. Instead they could bring down national debt making America more prominent in the global economy or even reduce income taxes or taxes in general as they no longer have as much need for it, benefitting the average American. Further benefitting the American workforce through the reduction of hindering psychological issues leaving a stronger and healthier economy and workforce. Implementing a shorter work would take time though. There are two major issues that intertwine preventing a shorter workweek. The first being the current culture of America as Nixon states in his Labor Day address “work ethic holds that labor is good in itself… work ethic is ingrained in the American character”(Peters and Wooly). Americans like to work America is a nation of workaholics, which is negatively affecting their mentality and ability to productively work. The other issue being government implementation. A shorter work week would take massive amounts of legislation. It took from 1982 to 2004 for France to get a handle on a shorter work week (Gillies). Twenty two years is a long time considering they didn’t even have a two party system when trying to pass these laws. These