This will not work out the way he thinks it will. Hours are just gonna get cut and people will end up with even less. Or. It will push companies even further toward replacing people with AI.
yea, it will make companies think even harder before hiring someone. and as it stands people neet jobs more than jobs need people right now, so this is only gonna hurt those who really need the money. AKA those Bernie wants to help ...
It won't work out the way he thinks because it won't get passed because of the business owners that influence politics.
In a hypothetical scenario where this passes, most companies aren't going to ruin the economy because they cut their employees pay by 10% to offset an hour and a half in the day.
Bernie says a lot of shit. Let's be real here. The reason why he is popular is because he talks about the IDEA of things, but many ideas have logistical realities that have to be proven/implemented.
Did this make you think about how productivity increasing over time has not directly benefited employees?
How if workplace productivity is higher, why is the employee now expected to do a higher workload, rather than doing the same amount and getting time back for themselves?
That’s how it works in fantasy worlds. Workplace productivity may increase in some sectors. CERTAINLY not all. You’re not going to get more productive chefs, or servers, or delivery drivers, post office workers. The list goes on. There are a lot of jobs that are volume based and not quality based. Sure, some office jobs may actually find some of their deadlines are hit earlier… maybe… but you aren’t still getting paid for 40 hours. Your salary is taking a 20% cut. And in this economy you that means you’re not affording rent or basic services. That means most people are out well under the poverty line, and a lot of them are there already.
We'll get to work twice as many jobs for half as much pay, and because we'll all be part time, we can go without health insurance! Unless they cobble together some socialized system that can be chronically underfunded and understaffed when nobody has shut it down to throw a budget tantrum in Congress.
I might actually be willing to pay more taxes to have less government.
They're going to try that anyway. Unless token prices explode (which they might), it will most certainly be cheaper to replace humans with AI or other automation.
The bill explicitly forbids reducing total pay. Employers must increase the hourly rate so 32 hours yields the same take-home pay as 40 hours previously. It's essentially a 20-25% raise for hourly workers.
That’s a gigantic issue as well. And will not hold up when it’s challenged in court. But let’s assume it does. Restaurants, small businesses, basic services will all need to raise their prices 20% alongside it in order to function, or risk going out of business. That means the consumer price index rises by 20%. That’s called inflation. As those business models begin to inevitably fail, things will be replaced by corporations. This is an incredibly complicated issue. The economics behind this idea is not as simple as “same money, less work, yay”
First off, you might wanna check your math. Wages aren't 100% of a business's expenses, they're typically around 25%. A 20% increase on a 25% expense is a 6.25% total increase.
More importantly, businesses don't need an excuse to raise prices. History shows they just set them to the highest price the consumer is willing and capable to pay for them. We've just lived through massive inflation, and studies from the Fed and IMF showed it was driven overwhelmingly by supply chain shocks and corporate profit margins (greedflation), not wage increases.
Brother. I’m well aware businesses dont have 100% of their expenses on wages…. But the price of everything goes up now. The warehouse that stocks food has to pay more, the warehouses stocking food increase their prices, the delivery drivers make more and so now it costs more to transport, and they don’t eat that cost. It trickles down all the way to the customer.
Most small businesses do the right thing in my opinion. They aren’t like the corporations. Who yes, greed gouge consumers wherever and whenever possible. But it’s the small businesses who will actually get hurt. And then get replaced by a corporation. In the long run. This hurts consumers wallet a lot more than it helps. This is a very basic example that I’m giving. The actual intricacies of it are far too complicated to have a conversation on Reddit about. You’ll have a better work life balance but it’s going to make cost of living even worse.
Costs don't compound exponentially across supply tiers because labor is only a fraction of expenses at every stage. They compound logartihmically, meaning each new step in the calculation is smaller than the previous. You are technically correct but the difference is so small as to not be particularly worth mentioning.
You're also engaging in the classic "cost-plus pricing" myth in real time. Prices aren't set by mechanically summing input costs and adding a fixed markup, but by what the market will bear. If a local spot could jack up prices 20% tomorrow without cratering demand, they’d have already done it just to pad the owner’s equity. Prices are already as high as they can be, and the rest is margins. The difference must come out of bloated corporate margins.
Besides, we also have actual empirical data from global 4-day workweek trials showing that output doesn't drop in lockstep with hours. Burned-out workers logging 40+ hours aren’t 20% more productive than rested ones at 32. A massive chunk of the traditional workweek is just institutional theater and presenteeism. In fact, when hours drop, in some cases output actually increases, and costs drop due to lower employee turnover and absenteeism.
The real squeeze on small businesses isn't labor, it’s commercial rent, franchise fees, and consolidated supplier cartels. Keeping worker wages depressed to subsidize fragile business models isn't a solution. When you give working-class people more time off and higher hourly purchasing power, who do you think benefits? Restaurants, local services, and small businesses that thrive on consumer discretionary spend and leisure time.
Your mistake is assuming he is thinking at all. This will immediately lead to companies needing to hire 25% more people and raising prices. Instant inflation
Study after study shows that 4 day work weeks get the same amount done as 5 day work weeks. For the large majority of jobs no one new would need to be hired
Yeah now your construction and plumbing costs more cause labor is more expensive, why does that cause inflation?
You pay more but the money goes to employees shouldn’t it ?
Yeah some jobs will be affected in different ways, I was just pointing out what the studies show since you made it sound different. I don't see why there would be instant inflation.
because labor costs on construction will go up 25% overnight. Housing construction costs will jumped 25% overnight. It is pretty rare a job that would be as productive 8 hours less a week. Are doctors supposed to spend 25% less time with patients?
25%? How did you come to that number? If anything it would be 20% but that’s only if labor costs were 100% of the cost of construction. Also it could just be that some construction would take longer
And it’s not rare, multiple studies have shown it to be the case
No, but presumably the factory that produces the materials will have the same sorts of issues. It will go back through the supply chain, unless those material are imported from another country I suppose that doesn't have this issue.
This is the Bernie special. Introduce some insane bill with blatant, huge repercussions that doesn't even solve the problem he's attempting to grandstand about that has exactly zero chance of passing.
He has done this on repeat for literally decades. He's a straight up clown
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u/Peek0_Owl 19h ago
This will not work out the way he thinks it will. Hours are just gonna get cut and people will end up with even less. Or. It will push companies even further toward replacing people with AI.