{"id":6834,"date":"2024-05-13T14:40:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T14:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/?p=6834"},"modified":"2024-10-15T22:00:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T22:00:58","slug":"bernie-sanders-plan-to-reduce-the-work-week-to-32-hours-will-lead-to-nowhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/2024\/05\/13\/bernie-sanders-plan-to-reduce-the-work-week-to-32-hours-will-lead-to-nowhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernie Sanders\u2019 Plan to Reduce the Work Week to 32 Hours Will Lead to Nowhere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Self-described democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the \u201cThirty-Two Hour Work Week Act<\/a>\u201d recently that would mandate the standard workweek be reduced from 40 to 32 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the law, employees would not receive a reduction in pay despite the 20% drop in labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, employers would be forced to pay overtime at the rate of time and a half for shifts exceeding eight hours per day, and double pay for time more than 12 hours daily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sanders<\/a>, \u201cMoving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argues that<\/a> the \u201cfinancial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Sanders may sound like he\u2019s rooting for the little guy, he\u2019s actually attempting to redistribute wealth by forcing employers to pay for work employees don\u2019t actually have to perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine the implications for small business owners, the backbone of the American economy, whose businesses account for 44% of the nation\u2019s economic activity<\/a> and create two-thirds of new jobs (not a mere reallocation of jobs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approaching work as a burden instead of an opportunity to serve leads only to despair rather than a vehicle for increased purpose and satisfaction. <\/p>Keri D. Ingraham<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sanders\u2019 mission is clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He seeks to imperil America\u2019s long-standing successful free-market model and begin to replace it with socialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under a false guise, Sanders asserts<\/a>, \u201cIt is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, mandating a shorter work week could, in reality, add <\/em>stress to employees attempting to complete their entire jobs in significantly less time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this, in turn, could increase business staffing costs, and result in lost full-time jobs and greater inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandating employers to shorten the work week is not the cure for the crisis of despair and depression plaguing Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 11 million<\/a> US adults have reported serious thoughts of suicide, nearly 30 million<\/a> are abusing alcohol, more than 37 million<\/a> regularly take antidepressants, and upward of 700,000<\/a> have died from drug overdoses since 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanders\u2019 low opinion of work \u2014 paired with a worldview centered on entitlement (canceling student debt as one example) \u2014 is entirely off base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only does his thinking further the existing economic and societal crises, but it has negative personal implications, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approaching work as a burden instead of an opportunity to serve leads only to despair rather than a vehicle for increased purpose and satisfaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work is not merely transactional \u2014 put in the time and get a paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is inherent purpose, meaning, and value in work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were created to be productive as contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As author and financier David Bahnsen explains<\/a>, the skewed modern-day definition of work is \u201cwhat you do so that eventually you won\u2019t have to do it anymore.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contrary, rather, is more apt: Work is an avenue for individuals to exercise their gifts and skills, employing sacrifice, exertion, and resilience while contributing to a larger goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bahnsen warns that the work less \u2014 or not at all \u2014 position espoused by folks like Sanders is \u201ckilling the heart and soul of our country . . . It has put downward pressure on productivity, intensified social alienation and anxiety . . . and ultimately, exacerbated societal divide.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, he explains<\/a>, \u201cwe must stop enabling a far greater epidemic in society\u2014not of overreaching, but of hating achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not of workaholism, “but of ‘no-aholism’ \u2014 no passion, no purpose, and no plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s labor market participation rate is a mere 62.5%<\/a>, down 5% over the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This downturn translates to more than 13 million<\/a> working age people \u2014 predominantly \u201cprime working age men\u201d \u2014 who have simply opted out of employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This must change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K-12 education is the place to start cultivating a new mindset that helps students discover vocational passions while encouraging them to identify their unique purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would benefit not only individuals, but their communities \u2014 and ultimately our country \u2014 as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A short workweek is far from the solution to societal ills and personal despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, we should encourage people to pursue greater service and higher aspirations \u2014 both at work and at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only would this lead to increased purpose and meaning, but able-bodied Americans would ultimately contribute more, not less. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Self-described democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the \u201cThirty-Two Hour Work Week Act\u201d recently that would mandate the standard workweek be reduced from 40 to 32 hours. Under the law, employees would not receive a reduction in pay despite the 20% drop in labor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":6847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[2266,2278,2279,2291,120,112,2264,2271,2288,2268,784,2277,2280,483,2269,2126,2292,2281,86,1246,2276,78,205,1445,1294,2119,2146,2287,2275,960,2270,2285,2274,2290,553,2282,2283,1438,783,145,2267,2286,2272,2273,2289,2284,2265],"coauthors":[1073],"class_list":["post-6834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future-of-work","tag-32-hour-work-week","tag-alcoholism","tag-antidepressants","tag-anxiety","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-automation","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-ceos","tag-david-bahnsen","tag-democratic-socialism","tag-depression","tag-despair","tag-drug-overdose","tag-economy","tag-employees","tag-employers","tag-employment","tag-entitlement","tag-free-market","tag-inflation","tag-job-creation","tag-k-12","tag-k-12-education","tag-keri-d-ingraham","tag-keri-ingraham","tag-labor","tag-labor-market","tag-meaning-of-work","tag-new-jobs","tag-new-york-post","tag-overtime","tag-paycheck","tag-small-business-owners","tag-social-alientation","tag-socialism","tag-student-loan-debt","tag-student-loan-debt-cancelation","tag-student-loans","tag-suicide","tag-technology","tag-thirty-two-hour-work-week-act","tag-value-of-work","tag-wall-street","tag-wealth-redistribution","tag-work-productivity","tag-work-satisfaction","tag-work-week"],"acf":[],"author_names":["Keri D. Ingraham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6834"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6834"}],"wp:action-assign-author":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post\/6834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}