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Subject:Re: Productivity vs Time From:Karla McMaster <mcmaster%pcmail -dot- cti-pet -dot- com -at- CTI-PET -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 12 May 1994 09:57:05 EST
>I think probably our gravest error, which is pointed out by Uncle Ralph's
story,
>is that we've started using our productivity gains almost exclusively to
make
>more stuff, rather than to make the same stuff in less time. Rather than
using
>higher productivity to bargain for a balance of higher wages and lower hours
>(the pattern for almost a hundred years) we've largely opted to raise wages
(or
>in the last 20 years or so, reduce the rate of decline) and leave the work
week
>fixed at 40 hours. Actually, the work week has been slowly creeping upward
on
>an individual basis (as a result of overtime, both paid and unpaid) and has
>skyrocketed on a per-household basis (as a result of two-income couples)
which
>is probably why most of us feel harrassed and stretched too thin. I'd much
>rather have more time off and proportionately less money, but that's not an
>offer anyone is making these days.
Have you read the book _The_Overworked_American_ (author, I believe, is Juliet
Schorr)? Wonderful look, by an economist, at this trend...
Karla McMaster, technical writer
CTI-PET Systems, Inc., Knoxville, TN
mcmaster -at- cti-pet -dot- com
