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Bernie Sanders Tries to Legislate Leisure
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When will Bernie realize that Socialism doesn't work.
Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill last week that would establish a “standard” 32-hour workweek and lower the overtime threshold after which employers are required to pay time and a half. The Vermont socialist is late to the party again. The free market has already delivered what he’s seeking.
The growing availability of four-day workweeks, hybrid schedules, remote work and the gig economy reveals that Mr. Sanders’s bill isn’t radical as much as it is superfluous and unnecessary. The senator is attempting to legislate a work culture that a growing number of businesses in the private economy are already providing for employees.
In his book “The End of Work: Why Your Passion Can Become Your Job,” John Tamny, my colleague at the Parkview Institute, explains how labor conditions have evolved for the better. Mr. Tamny writes that as societal and personal prosperity increase, so do our work options, allowing us to take advantage of our talents in jobs that don’t feel like work—because we actually enjoy them.
It’s a superfluous effort. The market has already moved toward a 32-hour workweek.
In his 2018 book, Mr. Tamny predicted the move from the traditional five-day workweek. Fast-forward to 2024, and it’s increasingly common for businesses to offer four-day workweeks, hybrid schedules or remote-work options. Surveys predict this trend will grow substantially.
So why is Mr. Sanders pushing to legislate a 32-hour workweek? Amusingly, the senator argues his legislation is necessary because “the financial 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.” The irony is these very gains in artificial intelligence are making the 32-hour workweek possible for so many employees— without legislation.
One might be tempted to dismiss the current labor environment as merely a byproduct of the pandemic, but it’s largely tied to innovation. Mr. Tamny predicted on C-Span in 2018 that automation would make the typical worker significantly more productive: “And so the need to have them there five days a week is going to be yesterday’s news, in much the same way that, in the 1930s, interestingly enough, the six-day workweek became yesterday’s