Arguments for a 4-hour Work day

i just have my husband, my boat and my cat. i work part time and use my spare time to read, write, draw, paint, smoke, etc.

 

4 hour work day not realistic for most.

 

I guess you missed this (according to a CEPR 2012 study, minimum-wage would equal $21.72 per hour if you factor increases in productivity):

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/jontalton/2014/01/17/vote-should-seattle-raise-the-minimum-wage/

Also, everheard of Technological Unemployment or UBI (Universal Basic Income)? A shorter workday is what we should strive for:

http://www.4hourworkday.org/benefits

Problem is we the people do not yet control the means of production. But we can hope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqW0YaN2ho"]Examples of Communism in star trek - YouTube

 

A 4 hour work day maximum mandated by law would be devastating for industries that rely on skilled labor.

 

It may go without saying that a 4-hour work day would be geared mostly to hourly wage earners with possible augmentation by Basic Income, Inverted taxation, etc. It may not apply, at least in a direct, linear fashion to highly skilled, salaried workers. It may not necessarily be mandated by state decree either but adopted as a new convention resulting from workers' organizing or the need to ration some jobs due to curb the effects of, say, technological unemployment.

 

Highly skilled salaried workers aren't even to whom I was referring.

I was mainly speaking of skilled hourly wage earners.
Auto-mechanics, electricians, HVAC repairmen, production/assembly, linesman, miners, welders, truck drivers, oil rig operators, et cetera. It isn't difficult to foresee the ways in which a 4 hour work day is highly undesirable in these fields, for both employer and employee. These are coincidentally also the groups most likely to be represented by unionization, meaning that government mandate is seemingly the only way a 4 hour work day would ever come about.

 

The may not work 4-hour days. But they might only work 4 days a week, 9-hours a day, or get a few extra weeks off every year, or an extra week off every season, or work 7-hour shifts instead of 8-10 hour shifts. All kinds of variations and possibilities. Some of them already enjoy the 9/80 schedule which seems to be very popular.

 

Yes, that sounds opportune. Pluralism shall conceive the rule of pluralism, and the world will overcome the licence to Kill for a military engagement.:love:

 

I never had any kids so I can survive on 4 hours now but it would have never let me save for retirement or anything at all really. It would have let me live on the red line I think. I did have some things i liked to do besides work like going out, buying a gift for someone,,, I would have had to hold two jobs to keep a mortgage and save and I really would have hated that. I feel sorry for those going into this way of life without a choice.

 

I am thinking your hubby works full time tho,,, someone in the family would have to so as to pay rent or cover a mortgage along with food and utilities.

 

The hourly wage is paid relative to the value of the work being performed, and many jobs are not worth paying the current minimum wage. Those jobs worth paying $21.72 an hour in 2012 were probably being paid that much or more in 2012. The job I retired from in the 90's paid more than that.

The problem is one of producer/consumer supply and demand. On the producer side, the population provides a much greater supply than the demand which exists, while on the consumer side the supply far exceeds the availability of obtaining the means (jobs), by which their demands can be obtained.

 

Which jobs are not worth the current minimum wage, and according to whom?

 

The most obvious answer would be those that currently pay the minimum wage.

 

The last job I left paid that, with benefits such as medical and worker comp and 6 weeks holidays and a retirement fund. That same place now is now paying lots less, has cut back on the benefits and tries to keep all the new people at an on call basis where they share hours meaning if one got called in today, the next time they need someone they call a different person in so no one's hours are up enough to reach benefits. What's sad is the company always reported gains and now it reports losses because they train more people then they actually get use of people and the CEO and his buddies take a lot more then was taken before, in benefits, unexplained bonuses, and trips and even pay outs as they retire after 4 years of destroying the company a little more.
One bonus I remember handed to the CEO was a whopping one hundred and 40 grand, after his first year there, we suffered a mil and some loss in that actual quarter and we couldn't understand what the bonus was for, at that time I could have bought a house clear and free. He managed to lose a lot more and then retired about three years later one happy man with a great payout of a couple more hundred grand to boot. Who knows how many other bonuses he got during that time.

 

this world really pisses me off sometimes, the greed and selfishness of people is astounding

 

It is ruining everything, they don't mind making poor peeps in poor countries make the same items for pennies and still charging us the same amount adding increases as if to follow the cost of making and cost of living yet some people sweat terribly for basically no money while we pay up the nose and watch more of our jobs go to them so CEOs can suck in more for themselves.
We don't get quality anymore, we get crap and it doesn't cost us any less to buy it even tho it costs them nothing to have it made.

 

What company are you referring to?

 

It's also the least logical answer.

 

I vote for a one-hour work week.

 

Then I can't wait for the arrival of the prosumer (proactive-consumer or producer/consumer) that Toffler, and now Rifkin, assure us is a possibility. Then we can supply our own demand. All we need is our 8th or 9th gen 3d printers hooked up to the internet and powered by our remarkably efficient nano-solar rooftop shingles and we'll be set.