They work it because they have to, because there is no other option. It's not an assumption; In 2006, the average man employed full-time worked 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time worked 7.7 hours per work day. There is no mandatory minimum amount of paid time off for sickness or holiday. However, regular, full-time workers often have the opportunity to take about nine days off for various holidays, two weeks (10 business days) of sick leave and two weeks (10 business days) of paid holiday time, with some workers receiving additional time after several years. Because of the pressure of working, time is increasingly viewed as a commodity.
Recent history By 1946 the United States government had inaugurated the 40-hour work week for all federal employees. Beginning in 1950, under the Truman Administration, the United States became the first known industrialized nation to explicitly (albeit secretly) and permanently forswear a reduction of working time. Given the military-industrial requirements of the Cold War, the authors of the then secret National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-6
[38] proposed the US government undertake a massive permanent national economic expansion that would let it siphon off a part of the economic activity produced to support an ongoing military buildup to contain the Soviet Union. In his 1951 Annual Message to the Congress, President Truman stated: In terms of manpower, our present defense targets will require an increase of nearly one million men and women in the armed forces within a few months, and probably not less than four million more in defense production by the end of the year. This means that an additional 8 percent of our labor force, and possibly much more, will be required by direct defense needs by the end of the year. These manpower needs will call both for increasing our labor force by reducing unemployment and drawing in women and older workers, and for lengthening hours of work in essential industries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average non-farm private sector employee worked 34.5 hours per week as of June 2012. ... Between 1950 and 2007 official price inflation was measured to 861 percent. President Truman, in his 1951 message to Congress, predicted correctly that his military buildup will cause intense and mounting inflationary pressures. Using the data provided by the United State Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erik Rauch has estimated productivity to have increased by nearly 400%.
According to Rauch, if productivity means anything at all, a worker should be able to earn the same standard of living as a 1950 worker in only 11 hours per week. Do you feel it necessary to have a dozen different responses before you admit you understand what I am asking you? ...if you didn't already have a job and your net income was at '0'? Also, your insurance wasn't already paid for, you don't have medical bills, you're right handed, your eyesight is 20/20, you and your wife have an OK relationship and your favorite color is green.. now that we've got that out of the way, can you answer the question as I asked it without invoking more bullshit excuses to extract more time away from this conversation? Why do you feel it is a better solution for minimum wage workers to take on more work (jobs), than for the average employer to pay a reasonable working wage (above the poverty line so the worker doesn't require government assistance)? Exactly as expected, still no solution, just like your praised GOP representatives in the house and senate. All you have is complaints, yet when pressed with answers, the only thing you can do is bitch more
