Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted that it is high time to switch to a 32-hour workweek in the United States, taking a full eight hours — a traditional workday — off of each workweek. Sanders wasn’t retweeting a story about such a proposal, just asserting his view that the time has come to give American workers a break.
Not only that, Sanders proposes that the 32-hour workweek should be paid as if it were a full 40-hour week. Essentially, Sanders is saying “hey everybody, Fridays off from now on.” (It doesn’t have to be Fridays, of course.)
It’s time for us to move to a 32-hour work week with no loss in pay. We can reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 8, 2023
Sanders may be referring to the ‘Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act‘ that was reintroduced in Congress in March by Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA). It’d been tried in 2021 and it’ll be tried again.
The workers that the change would impact are hourly wage workers, not salaried workers — so anyone who would be paid overtime for the 33rd hour onwards. Unsurprisingly, employers have not lined up behind the initiative.
That said, some 32-hour workweek experiments have shown enormously positive results. In one pilot program where 33 companies participated — each requiring 100% of productivity from their employees during 80% of scheduled hours — companies on average increased revenue by 8% during the trial, according to The Hill. The report also revealed that “zero of the participating companies said they were leaning toward stopping or switching back.”
But who will scoop Sanders’s ice cream when he shows up at Vermont’s favorite Ben & Jerry‘s on Friday, and nobody’s at work?
Some snarky replies came in, though they seem not to consider the significant difference between a Wall Street job and a Walgreen’s job.
Incredible. I really do not think I ever worked less than 70 hours a week in my life. Often up to 120 when I was both on Wall Street and still in the Reserves.
— Stephen Guilfoyle (@Sarge986) May 8, 2023
And in the “be careful what you wish for category,” one reader replies with specific potential results that would be less cheerful than the idea is. Look at France as a cautionary tale, where the country’s retirement age extension has driven a political frenzy. Investment Cage writes of three results from a 32-hour workweek that could be devastating.
“Companies will be more inclined to outsource to cheaper countries. Companies will likely charge more for products to offset costs. We will have to work longer for retirement.”
The idea sounds great but 3 things would happen.
— Investment Kage (@Investmentkage) May 8, 2023
1. Companies will be more inclined to outsource to cheaper countries.
2. Companies will likely charge more for products to offset costs.
3. We will have to work longer for retirement. France is an excellent example of this.
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