AP PHOTO/ EVAN VUCCI
WITH LIBERTY AND
LEISURE FOR ALL
of absurd. We’re basically able to
make too much stuff,” Dean Baker,
co-director of the liberal Center
for Economic and Policy Research,
said in an interview. “Why don’t
we all just work a little less and let
the people who aren’t working pick
up part of that time?”
There’s no question that some
Americans would like to work less.
According to the government’s
Current Population Survey in
2001, 7 percent of Americans said
they would be willing to work fewer hours, even if it meant earning
less money. The government hasn’t
asked the question since.
Private surveys yield a wide
range of estimates, and results
depend on the way the question
is asked. Fifty-two percent of respondents to a Center for the New
American Dream survey in 2003,
for instance, said they would be
willing to trade one day off a week
for an equivalent pay reduction.
A 2002 survey by the Work In
America Institute found 27 percent
of non-union workers would take
10 percent less pay for 10 percent
less work. A 2006 survey of working moms by CareerBuilder.com
found 52 percent would take a pay
cut to spend more time with their
children. And in July, 18 percent of
respondents to a Huffington Post/
YouGov poll said that they would
take the opportunity to work one
less day each week and receive 20
percent less pay.
If 18 percent of the working population wants 20 percent less pay
for another day off, that’s 26 million people who favor a permanent
three-day weekend.
Of course, there are a lot of reasons we don’t all just work less.
One major obstacle is our healthcare system. Though the percentage of employers offering health
insurance has been declining for
years, most workers still get their
health care coverage that way.
Working part-time could mean
sacrificing the insurance. And from
the employer’s perspective, continuing to offer the same health
insurance at a fixed cost while getting fewer hours of work in return
House
Majority
Leader Eric
Cantor (RVA) believes
the greatest
threat to
the 40-hour
work week is
Obamacare,
which
has seen
employers
cut workers’
hours to
avoid having
to provide
mandatory
benefits.