A bill has been introduced in both chambers of Congress that would mandate a 32-hour workweek — with no corresponding loss in pay — for full-time workers in the United States, as a means of allowing employees to share in productivity gains that technology has created over the past several decades. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] and the House bill was introduced by Rep. Mark Takano [D-Calf.].
Americans have worked a 40-hour workweek since the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect in 1940. Since then, productivity has increased by more than 400% for the average American worker while wages are lower than than were 50 years ago, when adjusting for inflation.
A number of countries have shortened their workweeks in recent years and companies across the country have begun offering 32-hour workweeks as a perk to attract and retain employees. A pilot program in the United Kingdom involving 3,000 workers at 60 companies showed an average revenue increase at those companies of 35% while 70% of workers reported greater satisfaction and less burnout.
The bill would reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours from 40 by lowering the maximum hours threshold for overtime compensation. Time-and-a-half for overtime when working longer than 8 hours and double time when working longer than 12 hours would still be in effect.
Critics of the bill said that a reduced workweek wouldn’t work in certain industries, like manufacturing plants that need workers to keep assembly lines running, and would lead to companies having to hire more workers, and passing those costs on to consumers.
“There is no statistical evidence to merit a nationwide mandate of a 32-hour workweek,” said Liberty Vittert, a statistics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said during a hearing in the Senate last week. “If it works for some companies in some sectors, that is great, but it cannot be applied to all sectors.”
Given the state of affairs and political climates, neither bill is expected to gain the traction or momentum necessary to pass, according to published reports. But it’s possible the hearing and the publicity generated over the bill’s introduction could lead companies to test the idea for themselves.
