The economic and social aspects of work time

Abstract

The intent of this study is to investigate the economic and social optimality of contemporary work schedules and to elucidate how work time has compounded societal problems and worker anxieties. An historical inquiry chronicles that work history has been a contentious social issue in industrial societies and that the "efficiency" grounds for the present workweek may be untenable. Since the standard competitive theory of labor markets has yielded unambiguous conclusions about the effect on working-time of changes in parameters such as real wages, and the productivity of labor and capital, an alternative narrative of the work time issue that draws heavily on the works of Institutionalist economists is offered as a superior way of analyzing work time issues. The alternative narrative suggests that the external social costs of long work hours should be given more sway in work time discussions. Additionally, the alternative narrative examines the work time implications of the ubiquity of the market relations and the emphasis on economic growth in contemporary market society. Alternative measures of social health are also investigated to suggest that the orthodox bent towards greater economic growth may not be enhancing social welfare. The environment destruction that is wrought by our work and spend society is also featured as evidence that an alternative division of our social labor is needed. A corollary objective of the research is to investigate the immediate effects of work hours on the productivity of workers. The industrial effects of work time reduction are examined through an efficiency week hypothesis that parallels the efficiency wage arguments. The assertion is that productivity increases are the result of two primary forces- wages and work durations. Just as higher wages may yield lower per unit labor costs, so might prudently-determined work hours. The research concludes that work times are far from optimal in both an economic and social context and that public policy designed to assist firms in expanding their payrolls could serve to ameliorate social welfare.