ABSTRACT

Specific reasons why the four-day workweek might not work include the most important single one: people won't change from their current habits and mind-set that a five-day workweek is normal and appropriate and that 40 hours of work per week is fine. The four-day workweek would not force everyone to drop to 32 hours of work each week instead of 40. The four-day workweek would allow people to choose that alternative. The adjustment can also be aided by government policy intervention to subsidize companies that introduce the four-day workweek. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average number of hours worked in non-farm US employment went from about 38 hours per week in 1964 to about 34 hours in 1999. Even without a concerted effort to pursue the four-day workweek goal, progress has been made toward that end. Formalizing the direction of work into the four-day, 32-hour basic structure is well within reach.