Quote Originally Posted by Wheeze View Post
I'm not an economist so I have to take most of what I read about such things on trust. The learned article I read about Universal Living Wage maintained that paying all citizens a sum guaranteed to keep them fed and housed works out cheaper than administering a Welfare State. Of course, it does not stop individuals topping that up by working if they want to or can. The trouble is that technology is making many jobs redundant and we are faced with millions of what Harari calls "useless humans". Amazon can replace 100 warehouse workers with 1 drone and operator. So Amazon is still making the same money with vastly reduced human costs.
I do think there was something in the Labour discussion about 4 day working weeks. I've urged my wife to apply for Friday's off, but although she'd like to she's a bit embarrassed about asking. Yet she's 55, the income is useful, but there is a quality of life balance to be had, and she could still work the 8-10 Friday's a year when they have busy periods.

The flaw was that it was for no loss of money.

We should probably encourage employers where they can to offer shorter working weeks to those that want it. Some will want more. I knew a guy who wasn't happy if he didn't get 60 hours a week, every week.