Jack Ma - 4 hours a day 4 days a week: Thoughts?

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Do you think that this could be a possibility in the next 30 years ? I'm on the fence with this one.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/21/alibabas ... years.html

George Jetson worked those sort of hours.

But I actually believe that the "average" hours worked will actually INCREASE over the next 30 years, owing to peoples' desire to make as much money as possible.

Many people work "overtime" these days.

Because people will work more "elective" overtime.

There has been a trend towards this in recent times.

Within a US context:

The 35-40 hour week has been standard since about WWII (the 1940s). There's no indication that this is going to change.

For a while, there was a slight trend towards 4-day weeks---but with 10 hour days. But now, this sort of arrangement is rare.

This is because unions, and "labor" in general, has been losing influence. There are pensions which are going belly-up, or being reduced. And things like 401k's have replaced pensions in many instances.

Many more people are working longer hours---especially in jobs which are "exempt" (i.e., exempt from the wage/hour laws). Many jobs in IT, for example, are "exempt." There is also a trend towards making employees "independent contractors," which puts more of a burden on the worker, too.

(wait, 401ks aren't pensions???? i've a lot to learn yet.... )

of course more people are going to work longer, in any case when wages don't increase while cost of living does. it's just survival.

i like the news -or claim- that large companies are in decline while smaller businesses are being granted more exposure, but the retail apocalypse signals to me otherwise. one wonders at what point intervention will happen to break up a possible monopoly.

I mis-stated. 401k's are "pensions"---but not in the "traditional" sense.

It takes a lot more money (as spent by yourself) to get a decent pension out of a 401k than it does to get a decent pension out of a "traditional" union pension.