Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins/Futurism. Source: Getty Images
While tech executives wax poetic about the advent of AI four day work week And liberating labor, economics guru Robert Reich is cutting through the drivel. in one ominous new essayThe former Labor secretary has warned that reduced working weeks will also lead to significantly lower pay – leaving the working class scrambling for scraps to survive.
Reich believes the U.S. economy is growing well, while the stock market is booming. But as for the stuff that really matters to most Americans? It’s “sh*tty”, plainly stated. And as AI continues to impact the job market, Reich says the poor and the working class will increasingly bear the brunt.
To establish his argument, Reich briefly considers the comments of business tycoons Eric Yuan of Zoom And Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan ChaseThose who argue that four- or even three-day work weeks will become the norm thanks to new automation tools.
“This is all pure nonsense,” writes Reich. “Here’s the truth: A four-day workweek will likely come with four days’ pay. A three-day workweek will likely come with three days’ pay. And so on.”
As evidence, he refers to Productivity-Wage GapA measure of a society’s economic output compared to wage growth. In the United States, productivity continues to rise – but the share of productivity going to workers has not actually decreased since the 1970s. In other words, workers have been screwed by their bosses for decades, and there’s no reason to think AI will change that.
Reich believes, “Therefore, as AI takes over their existing work, most workers will likely become poorer or have to take additional jobs to maintain their current wages.”
In fact, we don’t need to wait for AI to take over to see this play out: full-time job growth in 2025 almost non existentwhile the number of people turning to gig work Growth continues even amid widespread layoffs decline in salary among low-wage workers.
“Instead of creating an era of abundance in which most people no longer have to worry about money,” Reich adds, “new technologies have contributed to a two-tier society, consisting of a relatively few people with extraordinary wealth and a large number of people barely earning it.”
At the end of the day, the economist says, “it depends on who has the power.”
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