From today’s Forbes:
The global movement toward a 32-hour workweek is gaining traction in the United States with an endorsement by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Last Wednesday, Sanders introduced the Senate companion bill to Rep. Mark Takano’s (D-Calif.) Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, reducing the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32, and lower the maximum hours threshold for overtime pay for non-exempt employees.
In a Zoom interview, Takano, a senior member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, talked about how the push for an abbreviated workweek is gaining ground due to the ascendancy of AI. He cited “public openness” from major public figures and business leaders, like former President Barack Obama, JPMorgan CEO and MicrosoftMSFT +1% founder Bill Gates.
“Technology has brought humanity to a place where we can ask the question, ‘How much time does everyone need to work?’” Takano said about harnessing technological advancements. “The shorter workweek is about the greater happiness of humankind. We have choices to make as a society about whether we are going to allow technology to put us in the service of it or whether it really serves all of us, and I mean all of us.”
According to the California congressman, the people who are exempt from the FLSA are the ones who are benefiting the most from AI, automation and other technological advancements—not the factory or service workers who are subject to the FLSA, which says you can’t work more than 40 hours a week without getting overtime pay.
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