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PA Lawmaker Proposes 32-Hour, 4-Day Workweek

Is your whole weekend spent recharging for the workweek?  Does "hump day" seem to never come soon enough?

Is your whole weekend spent recharging for the workweek?  Does "hump day" seem to never come soon enough?

Is your whole weekend spent recharging for the workweek? Does "hump day" seem to never come soon enough?

Photo Credit: Lukas Bieri Pixabay

Then new legislation proposed by a Pennsylvania lawmaker is right up your alley.

State Rep. Chris Rabb, a Philadelphia Democrat, hasn't formally introduced his bill yet, but he's calling for a four-day, 32-hour work week.

The bill would ask the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a cost-benefit study of the shorter workweek.

"Everyone deserves to work to live and not live to work," Rabb said in a news release.

A California congressman also has proposed a four-day workweek, according to The New York Times.

Since Mark Takano, a Democrat, introduced the federal act in July, it has been endorsed by the 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Economic Policy Institute 

Takano's bill would require employers to pay overtime after 32 hours. The congressman said he thinks the lingering trauma of the two-year coronavirus pandemic makes the timing right. 

According to Rabb, many companies around the globe have started pilot programs concerning a four-day work week and "the results have been promising."

The change is aimed at creating a better work-life balance, higher morale among employees and less spending on child care, Rabb said.

“One hundred years ago, When the five-day workweek was granted to us by labor activists who fought to not work their lives away it was considered a huge victory,” Rabb said.

“Times have changed; we have different family dynamics that changed our ability to work a five-day workweek and it’s time we help give people their most precious commodity back – their time," Rabb said. 

A spokeswoman for Rabb said it's too soon to gauge support of the bill since it's just been proposed. 

Rabb added that elected officials owe it to taxpayers to explore any cost-saving measures that can enhance state government’s efficacy, while still providing the level of service they both need and deserve.

The 32-hour workweek is being tested out in other parts of the world including Spain and New Zealand, TheTimes reported.

Proof of worker frustration is in the numbers. Not only are more employees working from home or independently, but many are just quitting altogether.

According to the US Labor Department, more than 4.5 million people left their jobs in November, the highest total recorded in two decades of measuring.

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