On May 1, 1926, Ford Motor Company became one of the first American companies to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week. It was something workers and labor unions had been calling for. However, the five-day workweek was to increase productivity. With more time and money, workers were expected to buy and use the products they were making. Manufacturers soon followed Ford's lead, and the Monday-to-Friday workweek became standard practice.
Since then, everything has changed but the hours. Many people worked longer, which severely influenced health and well-being, as well as the environment. Until the Second World War, it was common for one person in a family, usually the oldest male, to work full-time. Women gradually made up 42 percent of the world's full-time workforce. Later, technology made lots of work unnecessary, with computers and robots doing many tasks previously performed by humans.
Well into the 21st century, we continue to work the same long hours as 20th century laborers, using up more of Earth's supply to produce more goods that we must keep working to buy, use and replace in a seemingly endless cycle of hard work and consumption. It's time to pause and consider better ways to live like shifting from fossil-fueled lifestyles with which our consumer-based workweeks are connected.
The UK New Economics Foundation argues that a standard 21-hour workweek would address a number of interconnected problems: overwork, unemployment, over-consumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life. Economic systems that require constant growth on afinite(有限的) planet make no sense. It's time for a change in our economic thinking.
