When we look across the world, there are a number of concerning trends where governments have increased the workweek, increased the retirement age, and ignored evidence about the benefits of the four-day workweek.
For example:
South Korea has proposed a 69-hour work week, up from 52 hours to improve so-called “work-life balance”.
At the same time in France, their senate voted to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The vote wasn’t even close, it passed with 201 votes to 115.
One valid critic, Monique Lubin, commented “Your name will forever be attached to a reform that will set the clock back almost 40 years,” and she is not wrong.
The clock is turning backwards when it comes to workers’ rights and quality of life for the middle to lower class.
It just seems like things are getting worse and worse, and there’s nobody in government that is listening.
Now let’s shift focus over to the re-emergence of child labor in America. This comes after the discovery that Children were working in a factory in East Palestine, Ohio.
In another state, Arkansas Governor, Sarah Huckabee signed a bill that would roll the clock back on child labor protection. Specifically, it eliminates the state requirement to verify that a child is over the age of 16 before hiring for work.
Think about that for a second…
In 2023, states are rolling back the clock on laws that were created to prevent unethical practices of exploiting children for labor.
All of these events coincide with an era of inflation and unmoved wages. So instead of paying people more, employers are looking to expand the hiring pool by decreasing age requirements for labor pools.
Employers say that “Nobody wants to work anymore.” But the truth is not so simple.
The truth is that nobody can afford to work at these terrible wages while the cost of living continues to increase.
Instead of having a dialogue in good faith, employers use a moral argument that masks their motives. You see this time and time again throughout the history of America.
The result, as we have seen, is that employers do everything they can to get more workers for lower prices. The way they do that is by increasing the supply.
There are a number of ways to do this. The easiest ways are to
- Increase the retirement age to recruit an older workforce
- Eliminate laws that keep child labor in check to recruit a younger workforce
And we have seen exactly this, and you can continue to expect more of it, even as life expectancy in America continues to decline.
That’s right. Life expectancy in America is declining even as healthcare innovation increases. The reason for this is deaths of despair, food inequality, and healthcare inequality.
Despite all this, older workers are being pressured to rejoin the workforce and laws are being changed to change the official age of retirement.