Will the 15-hour week come as a consequence of unemployment ?

Machines were rapidly replacing human labour, holding out the prospect of vastly increased production at a fraction of the existing human effort. In fact, Keynes thought that by about now (the early twenty-first century) most people would have to work only 15 hours a week to produce all that they needed for subsistence and comfort.

Developed countries are now about as rich as Keynes thought they would be, but most of us work much longer than 15 hours a week, though we do take longer holidays, and work has become less physically demanding, so we also live longer. But, in broad terms, the prophecy of vastly increased leisure for all has not been fulfilled. Automation has been proceeding apace, but most of us who work still put in an average of 40 hours a week. In fact, working hours have not fallen since the early 1980s.

via What happened to the 15-hour week? – thestar.com.

Related articles @ jobmarketmonitor.com

1. Listen to John Maynard Keynes’ voice on High Unemployment 
2. How Unemployment Leave Europe’s Young ?
3. France – Lessons on Youth Unemployment and Youth Employment Policy
4. UK: Long-term youth unemployment grows eight-fold since 2000
5. Long-Term Unemployment is not a short term problem
6. States with the Longest Stretches of Unemployment
7. After the Great Recession : Underemployed and Underpaid