Detona
Kraken
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Have you noticed that nobody really seems to go to work anymore? Working hours have been decreasing for 150 years, and the number of holidays off just keeps increasing.
I think people would be happier if they went to work more. Imagine how much less stressful life would be without social media, laziness, nonstop gossip, glued to the screen, etc.
Here's what the facts say:
ourworldindata.org
The chart shows that average working hours declined dramatically for workers in early-industrialized economies over the last 150 years. In 1870, workers in most of these countries worked more than 3,000 hours annually — equivalent to a grueling 60–70 hours each week for 50 weeks per year. But we see that today those extreme working hours have been roughly cut in half.
In Germany, for example, annual working hours decreased by nearly 60% — from 3,284 hours in 1870 to 1,354 hours in 2017 — and in the UK the decrease was around 40%. Before this revolution in working hours people worked as many hours between January and July as we work today in an entire year.
in a paper analyzing historical data for the US, the economist Dora Costa summarizes the evidence:5 “The length of the work day fell sharply between the 1880s, when the typical worker labored 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 1920, when his counterpart worked an 8-hour day, 6 days a week.
By 1940 the typical work schedule was 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Although further reductions in work time largely took the form of increases in vacations, holidays, sick days, personal leave, and earlier retirement, time diary studies suggest that the work day has continued to trend downward less than 8 hours a day.”
I think people would be happier if they went to work more. Imagine how much less stressful life would be without social media, laziness, nonstop gossip, glued to the screen, etc.
Here's what the facts say:
Are we working more than ever?
Working hours for the average worker have decreased dramatically over the last 150 years.
ourworldindata.org
The chart shows that average working hours declined dramatically for workers in early-industrialized economies over the last 150 years. In 1870, workers in most of these countries worked more than 3,000 hours annually — equivalent to a grueling 60–70 hours each week for 50 weeks per year. But we see that today those extreme working hours have been roughly cut in half.
In Germany, for example, annual working hours decreased by nearly 60% — from 3,284 hours in 1870 to 1,354 hours in 2017 — and in the UK the decrease was around 40%. Before this revolution in working hours people worked as many hours between January and July as we work today in an entire year.
in a paper analyzing historical data for the US, the economist Dora Costa summarizes the evidence:5 “The length of the work day fell sharply between the 1880s, when the typical worker labored 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 1920, when his counterpart worked an 8-hour day, 6 days a week.
By 1940 the typical work schedule was 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Although further reductions in work time largely took the form of increases in vacations, holidays, sick days, personal leave, and earlier retirement, time diary studies suggest that the work day has continued to trend downward less than 8 hours a day.”
