Where does the US rank on weekly work hours?

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – This month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.) introduced legislation in the Senate that would establish a 32-hour work week without reducing pay. The last time the issue was debated in the Senate was in his 1955, nearly 70 years ago.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) reintroduced a similar bill in the House in March 2023, but it made no progress.

Recent debates in Congress have reignited the debate about whether a 32-hour work week is effective and whether it can be implemented in the United States.

Is working 32 hours a week effective?

The founder, Andrew Burns, 4 days a week (global), claims that working a 32-hour week is more productive than working long hours. His company has conducted pilot programs with companies in multiple countries, including the United States, to help implement a four-day work week. He said the benefits the company has discovered through research cannot be denied.

“In the U.S. trial, companies that participated in the trial reported a 33% year-over-year increase in revenue,” Burns said.

He claims people are also seeing benefits outside of the workplace, sleeping more, spending more time with their families and lowering their stress levels. He also emphasized that companies that implement a four-day work week typically have employees working longer hours and taking less sick leave.

Burns said that companies participating in his pilot program should “pay salaries and wages to meet the expected level of performance, rather than pay for the length of time worked.” He said that he has come to understand that it is about paying for something. ”

However, some experts disagree with the idea of a four-day work week. They argue that a five-day work week helps employees maintain routine, promotes accountability, and enhances communication. An expert who recently testified before Congress said a shorter work week could put some workers at a disadvantage.

“This could disadvantage older workers, who may not be physically able to do the same amount of work in a shorter amount of time,” said Liberty Wittert, a data science professor at Olin Business School. Ta.

“It’s not a silver bullet. There are always going to be people for whom this doesn’t work. But the reality is that the vast majority of people think they can work better by working fewer hours,” Burns said.

Congressional Republicans also argued that a four-day work week would lead to higher inflation and layoffs.

Although there is some support for a 32-hour work week in both houses of Congress, it is unlikely that the movement will gain enough support to become federal law.

Why was the 40-hour work week established in the United States?

Believe it or not, after the Industrial Revolution in 1817, people worked 80 to 100 hours a week.

This triggered a movement by labor unions to demand improvements in working conditions. It wasn’t until 1869 that President Ulysses S. Grant guaranteed an eight-hour work day for civil servants. This inspired employees across the country to fight for the same rights.

In 1926, Ford Motor Company was one of the first companies to introduce a five-day, 40-hour work week for employees working in its automobile factories. Henry Ford drove the change when he realized that working more only marginally increases productivity in the short term. Other manufacturers and companies quickly followed this model.

It wasn’t until 12 years later, in 1938, that Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a 44-hour work week. Two years later, Congress amended the law to reduce the working week to 40 hours.

How many hours a week do people in other countries work?

Several countries have already introduced shorter working weeks or are testing the idea. In 2000, France mandated a 35-hour work week. Belgium recently passed legislation allowing full-time workers to request a four-day work week, and the Icelandic government recently changed the working week to around 35 hours.

by international labor organization According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the average worker in the United States works a 38-hour work week, which is about the middle of the pack. This is lower than India (46.7), China (46.1), Russia (39.2), etc.

According to ILO data, the top five countries with the shortest working week are:

According to ILO data, the top five countries with the longest working weeks are:

Note that the distribution of these times is not necessarily even. For example, in Bhutan, 61% of employees work more than 49 hours a week, which is considered by the ILO to be an “excessive work limit”.