A mandatory 32-hour workweek is not coming to a business near you, however much Senator Bernie Sanders wants it to happen.
The 40-hour workweek became standard in 1940. For employees who are non-exempt, that means that if they work more than 40 hours in a week, they get paid time and a half for every hour over 40.
Sanders says he wants to pass this 4-day workweek bill to force companies to share profits with their employees and bring Americans into line with other wealthy nations. The New York Times quoted Sanders as saying, “The sad reality is that Americans now work more hours than the people of any other wealthy nation,” citing, as the NYT added, “statistics that workers in the U.S. on average work for hundreds of hours longer each week than their counterparts in Japan, Britain and Germany.”
Despite the fact that it’s literally impossible for U.S. workers to work for “hundreds of hours” longer than anyone, as there are only 168 hours per week, the reality is the average U.S. worker doesn’t work more than 40 hours per week. The average employee works 34.3 hours per week. That number includes part-time employees. Full-time employees work an average of 36.4 hours per week, or 1,892 hours per year.
To keep reading click here: Bernie Sanders Wants a 4-Day Workweek. It Won’t Happen
