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Flilix on 07 July 2021
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Jumpin said:
Flilix said:

I've been hearing mixed things about these 4-day work weeks. It was proposed here in Belgium by the PS (socialist party), but an expert in labour economics said that it's absolutely unrealistic (unless people are willing to get lower wages and consume less). According to him, the academic world is almost unanimously opposed to it. He says that on the long term there would be a disastorous rise in wage costs and unemployment, because employers will either try to automate more or move to other countries. He also says that the number of burn-outs might stay the same anyways.

https://www.tijd.be/opinie/algemeen/minder-werken-voor-zelfde-loon-is-sciencefiction/9981673.html

As for companies moving to other countries, what’s stopping them from doing that now? Already they can get far cheaper labour in many other countries. If the field is well suited to the market and region, companies won’t move because of pricier labour.

Not sure what you're trying to say here. A lot of companies already moved their labour to non-Western countries. Other companies stayed in rich countries because moving is not favourable enough for them. If the difference in labour cost between countries increases even more, then more companies will find it favourable to move.

Jumpin said:
Flilix said:

I’m not sure which economists they’re citing, but it sounds like they have an avaricious agenda demanding cheap labour, long hours, and low investment only technological advancement. Historical disproves then, anyway. We have a history of improving automation and lowering work hours, and this has had a correlation with stronger democracy and stronger economy.

The author is a labour economics professor himself and he doesn't seem to have a notable bias in any way, and neither does the newspaper.

Bofferbrauer2 said:
Flilix said:

That's only true if the total hours also drop down. Otherwise, if you make 4x10 hours instead of 5x8 hours for instance, there's no change to your weekly work hours, just the fact that you have one more day off per week to relax and recover.

The opposition mostly stems from people who simply remove a day and end up with 4x8 instead of 4x10 yet keep the same monthly salary in mind. of course this would be like a 20% salary increase and not sustainable in such a big jump. But those who calculate like that just show off their failure to do math.

Also less time spent commuting between home and work, which as far as I understand would be a big change in the US as long-distance commutes are relatively normal there. So the only ones really losing out on a 4-days-week would be gas stations due to less commute.

Yeah, this is specifically about the idea of working 32 hours a week and keeping the same wage. If you work 4 days of 10 hours a day, there would of course not be a big difference with 5x8. Whether or not that would be favourable, probably depends on both your own preference and the type of job you do.

Last edited by Flilix - on 07 July 2021