Why we should be working only 15 hours a week 

With Australians working more hours than ever before, some academics are calling for a 15 hour work week alongside a universal basic income.

Dutch historian Rutger Bregman says working a shorter week in combination with a guaranteed income would give people the freedom to do what they really want.

He agrees with anarchist activist economist David Graeber, who has long been a critic of what he calls ‘bulls**t jobs’.

With Australians working more hours than ever , prominent thinkers are calling for a 15 hour work week and the elimination of pointless ‘bulls**t jobs’ (pictured, stock image)

Dutch historian Rutger Bregman (pictured) says working a shorter week in combination with a guaranteed income would give people the freedom to do what they really want

Dutch historian Rutger Bregman (pictured) says working a shorter week in combination with a guaranteed income would give people the freedom to do what they really want

Mr Bregman says these pointless jobs – which are mainly white collar ones – is leading to an ‘epidemic of stress,’ The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

These jobs include corporate lawyers, consultants, government researchers, telemarketers, middle-management and even receptionists, according to Mr Bregman and Mr Graeber.

‘When I talk about the 15-hour work week, I’m talking about doing less paid work that we don’t really care about so that we can do more things that are actually valuable,’ said Mr Bregman.

‘We need to update our idea of what work is.’

Anarchist activist economist David Graeber (pictured) has long been a critic of what he calls 'bulls**t jobs'

Anarchist activist economist David Graeber (pictured) has long been a critic of what he calls ‘bulls**t jobs’

He says predictions that we would be working fewer hours have proved wrong, and the opposite has occurred instead.

‘Until the 1970s almost all the economists, sociologists, philosophers … believed we’d be working less … It only started to change around 1980 – around the western world we started working more,’ he said.

Mr Graeber has identified five types of ‘bulls**t jobs,’ and says no one would notice if they disappeared.

He claims technological improvements have not resulted in less work as expected.

Mr graeber says new unproductive white collar jobs (pictured, stock image) have been invented that even the people working them do not believe should exist

Mr graeber says new unproductive white collar jobs (pictured, stock image) have been invented that even the people working them do not believe should exist

Instead new unproductive jobs have been invented that even the people working them do not believe should exist.

Australians are now working more than ever, says Troy Henderson, a political economy PhD candidate from the University of Sydney.

Men in full-time employment are working 42.3 hours a week, up from 39.5 in 1985, and women are working 38.6 hours, up from 36.4.

Henderson believes a shorter work week is a real possibility, however, and says there is no reason we can’t work a four-day 30-hour full-time work week with a universal basic income.

Mr Bregman says pointless jobs such as telemarketing (pictured, stock image) are leading to an 'epidemic of stress'

Mr Bregman says pointless jobs such as telemarketing (pictured, stock image) are leading to an ‘epidemic of stress’

With automation replacing an increasing number of human jobs, the idea of a universal basic income has been growing in popularity.

The idea is to provide all citizens or residents in a country with the same amount of fixed income, regardless of whether they are working or not.

Basic income is being trialed in Canada, Finland and the Netherlands, and advocates say it could reduce poverty and increase equality and personal freedom.

Others have argued it would increase inflation, reduce the motivation to work, cause immigration problems, and be impossible to finance. 

With automation replacing an increasing number of human jobs (pictured, stock image), the idea of a universal basic income has been growing in popularity

With automation replacing an increasing number of human jobs (pictured, stock image), the idea of a universal basic income has been growing in popularity

 

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