One of the more important observations from the recent scientific papers on the subject of ageing in Europe appears to be concerning mental and physical health campaigns which would curtail work while increasing time for play, family and life-long-learning. Laurance writes, "The authors proposed a radical strategy for dealing with the financial and social challenges posed by the growing elderly population: encouraging people to work shorter weeks for a longer period of their lives. Most of the governments . . . were already raising the retirement age" in Europe.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/7j83834285263662/
One study said, "The 20th Century was a century of redistribution of income. The 21st Century could be a century of redistribution of work. Redistribution could spread work more evenly acrosss the populations and over the ages of life. Individuals could combine work, education, leisure and child-rearing in varying amounts at different ages."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/02/live-to-see-100
Interestingly in March, I attended a meeting with some labour union organisers in Wiesbaden. They indicated that VERDI and IG METALL, among the largest unions in Europe, were considering a push for a 25 to 28 hour-work-week, i.e. in line with this recent research on ageing in society and in line with the economic and social needs of Germany today. Moreover, in April, (the following month) the European Union leadership announced a push towards levelling across the entire-continent all of the overtime employment laws and practices--so that workers could expect to have the same sort-of-maximum workloads in whichever EU country the near future. For example, some workers do 44 to 48 hours a week while others in similar fields of employment earn full pay for doing only about 30 hours a week during the recent economic downturn.
The average full-time work position is already 38 hours in the EU and neighbouring lands of West and Central Europe .
With all the unemployment in the USA and neighbouring lands, perhaps a reduction in lifetime work hours should be called for by all Americans--not just unionists.
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