Technology and automation has led to much greater efficiencies and output for every human in the workforce over the last 50 years. How come this hasn’t led globally to less working hours or a shorter work week for the average worker?

Question

EDIT: Replace ‘every human in the workforce’ with ‘most people’. I agree efficiency has not been gained equally across all professions.

In: Economics

Answer 1

Because each of us makes the trade-off that we want a higher standard of living, within a reasonable cost in terms of hours worked. We seem to be willing to work 25% to 35% of our time (40 to 55 hours per week), and we’ll keep doing so no matter how high our standard of living gets.