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Timesizing®

not downsizing

Unemployment is a phony problem. It’s self-inflicted by our rigid view of jobs (they have to be 35-40 hours/week).

— Phil Hyde
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What is Timesizing?

What happened to our free time? Why do we still have high unemployment and underemployment in so many areas? Timesizing provides a solution to these problems.

Timesizing pegs the length of the work week to the unemployment rate. When unemployment rises, the work week shrinks. This spreads around the available work and saves jobs. When unemployment drops, the work week gets longer again.

Timesizing Graphic

How Does Timesizing Work?

  • By letting the work week vary with the unemployment rate
  • By replacing overtime with training, in areas with labor or skill shortages
  • By facilitating work sharing programs

Why Timesizing?

The US work week has been stuck at 40 hours since 1940. That’s MORE THAN 70 YEARS of an unchanged work week. Since 1940, computers, robots, technology, and outsourcing have chipped away at American jobs. A growing population has increased competition for the remaining jobs.

[Read more…] about Why Timesizing?

Shorter Hours

Shorter hours are happening anyway, but not the best way which maintains personal income and vital consumer spending via emergency worksharing and sustainable timesizing. We can’t simply project a pre-computer 40-hour workweek indefinitely into the age of robotics.

It may be fun to sneer at believers in the fixed “lump of labor fallacy” because “there’s an infinite amount of work to be done,” but where’s the corresponding willingness to pay for it? – and without pay, it isn’t, and doesn’t, work.

[Read more…] about Shorter Hours

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News & Ideas

Why Do Americans Still Work Long Hours?

In 1870 the average European worked 66 hours/week. In the US, we averaged 62. By 1929 the European and American work weeks were pretty much the same: Europeans worked 47.8 hours/week, and Americans … [Read More...] about Why Do Americans Still Work Long Hours?

Founder Phil Hyde

Phil Hyde

A self-described “Renaissance man,” Phil Hyde was born in Canada. He received his bachelor’s degree in ancient languages and Near-Eastern Studies from the University of Toronto, and a master’s degree … [Read more...] about Phil Hyde

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