I have added a link in my post. It's important.
Quote: (06-18-2017 12:06 PM)Suits Wrote:
Quote: (06-18-2017 11:53 AM)Liberty Sea Wrote:
Surely they did. It's a historical trend. The French now officially work 35 hours a week, practically 1,482 hours a year. Germans work even less and Germany is still an economic powerhouse. Europeans typically work less than Americans and Japanese do.
Automation in 20 years will be dramatically different from what it is today. Even Japanese will start working less, I believe.
Europeans work less because of cultural differences, not because of automation. And it isn't like the French 35 hour work week has been some raging socioeconomic success either.
Well, Germany is successful and its people work even less than the French.
Going by
productivity (GDP PPP per hours worked), the US and German are much more productive than the Japanese.
Even American's working hour have decreased, and Americans are currently working more hours (1,790 h) than Japanese (1,719 - OECD data). And I don't believe that current Americans don't have enough time for their kids.
American culture is very much competitive and success-centered. And even Americans have been working less as technology develops.
Japan's working hour has been decreasing too, though it is still long. We can expect it to continue to decline. It's a historical trend.
Japanese work long hour not only because of competitive drive but also because they feel responsibility to their company. We can expect that the Chinese don't have as great a sense of responsibility to the company.
The Asian long working hour is conditioned not only by culture but also by the condition of the economy. It's not like they have been working like mad throughout history to the point of having no time for their kids, ever! As economic condition change, their practice is bound to change.
At some point the automated economy and technological progress are going to force the Chinese are going to realize that working less produce more. I supposed at that point they will still work more than the French do, but less than they do now. At least enough for them to train their kids.
You said that "Those dad's are too busy working their fucking asses off
just to give their families a basic middle class income." which implies at least that economic necessity plays an important role in their working long hour. That economic necessity will soon decrease.
Chinese place a great importance in children and in fostering the next generation. When they can afford it, I don't see why they wouldn't spend more time with children. Having better children is also one way of winning in life.
As for employers, they will soon realize that working too long reduce productivity, especially as the economy become more smart. Companies that requires less working hour but are more productive will be more competitive in attracting workers. Working hours will naturally decrease.
You can also expect that, the increasingly big data-driven Chinese government will realize that working less will be more productive and produce a more productive next generation. As I said before, they also realize the important of masculinity to the preservation of the state, and the role of parenting in nurturing it. Realizing this, they will likely implement some sort of restriction on working hour.
I see many ways in which working hours will likely decrease as automation develop. I simply don't think that Asians will never have enough time to raise their kids properly. Better not close off the possibilities of the future. We tend to underestimate how fast and disruptive technological progress can be, especially when AI, robot, and general automation are increasingly ubiquitous.
What's important in this trend is socio-ideological - a shift in value and attitude, widely and increasingly supported by society, increasingly moving toward traditional masculinity and father role, resisting modern western influence, in the wider context of rising Chinese nationalism. The power of this attitude/value shift will in time play out as economic conditions allow it. The popular support for this attitude shift is also what's lacking in the West, where the manosphere is still quite fringe and nationalism is still quite widely maligned.