Just a quick note on this story – about how for many of us the 40-hour week is but folklore.
13% of Kiwis are working more than 50 hours / week (that’s paid work, all you volunteers out there won’t count…). Waikato University labour market expert Dr William Cochrane points out about the overworked:
“There’s an increasing number working in excess of 40 hours a week at both ends of the socio-economic spectrum – in both very high and very low-paid jobs.”
Certainly those long hours are how our titans of business justify their salaries – also in the news today is the fact that Mighty River Power’s CEO is to get $500,000 for not quitting before the end of the year, while National privatises his business – but the stats show that a lot of the worst paid work harder.
Of course some would say they’re lucky to have work at all with 7% unemployment predicted over the next 6 months.
It seems you could connect these 3 stories quite easily – a better distribution of pay, allowing a living wage for the current working poor, allowing them to not be overworked, and that work spread around a few more of the unemployed…
But such a well run economy isn’t on National’s agenda.
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