Americans Spend 44 Hours/Week Working: Impact on Society - Essay Sample

Introduction

Work is no doubt a critical activity on the social, political, economic and cultural aspects of many Americans. This has hence led to the larger proportion of the American days spent in the production processes as well as the offering of services in different sectors. According to the United States Bureau of labor statistics, an average American works for 8.8 hours a day, which translates to 44 hours in a week (United States Department of Labor). This hence means that adult Americans have to wake up at the crack of dawn and retire late in the evening, spending hours in involving activities. While this is the formally documented working hours, some citizens work for up to 60 hours a week, meaning they have to work for 12 hours a day, or even extend their work to the weekend (Saad, 3). Staying longer at the workplace aggregately is intended and anticipated to increase productivity and enhance the wellbeing of the workers financially and socially. However, all it does is fiscally cost the productivity of a firm, cause sleep deprivation in the workers and impact negatively on their health. The long working hours have been detrimental to the economy as well as to individual workers, and even so, many companies still abide by these statistics. Workplaces should hence reduce the working hours to 35 hours weekly to rectify this situation.

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The typical American working day starts as early as 8 am and ends late in the evening, between 5 and 8 pm. This means that workers have to wake up early and retire to bed late. This has gradually yet significantly reduced the sleeping hours of average American adults. In the 1960s Americans were reported to be sleeping between 8 and 9 hours. However, towards the 1990s, this had reduced to 7 hours. Currently, most American workers sleep for 6 hours or less (Killgore and Weber, 209). This trend causes sleep deprivation that has an impact on the cognitive development and abilities of the workers. The workers hence exhibit reduced alertness, mental lapses, and impaired perception. The repercussions of this include accidents in the workplace, absenteeism, reduced efficacy and incompetence. The economy has suffered a great deal due to this, as it is estimated that $92 billion are spent annually on sleep-related workplace cost (Schultz and Wayne, 1639). Long working hours, therefore, results in poor sleeping patterns and sleep deprivation, and hence causes poor productivity. Therefore shorter working hours could translate to fewer absences, fewer mistakes, injuries and accidents as well as high motivation. Also at stake is the health of the workers.

The all-around worker is an asset every employer values, but with the long working hours, the health of workers is often at stake. Borrowing from the aspect of sleep deprivation, the accumulation of toxins in the brain, more so the beta-amyloid causes diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Stress from strenuous work, fatigue, and depression are also likely to be exhibited by workers who work for long hours. Japan is a developed country and one that has historically been linked to long working hours in its different sectors. While its productivity has been comparatively high, most of the workers, around 10,000, die annually due to overworking. Among the various complications include cardiovascular causes such as aortic rupture, acute cardiac failure, stroke and myocardial infarction (Shields, 33). The situation is dire in this nation that the deaths have been named karoshi, meaning death due to overworking. Long working hours have also been linked to risky behaviors such as smoking and alcohol consumption. There are also cases of poor eating habits and reduced medical examinations. Reducing the working hours for these workers would hence translate to physical and mental relaxation, exercises, involvement in constructive leisure activities, going for physicals and other medical checkups and generally happy and fulfilling life.

With the increasing cost of living and the current economic dynamics the world is facing, working has been the one factor that has significantly leveled the lives of many. Unemployment is proving to be a risk that any individual could land into, and this has hence made workers bear with the working conditions they are in, including the long working hours. Competition is growing day by day, and business owners thus have to maximize their labor to achieve desirable outcomes. Many workers have also decided to work for these long hours because of the circumstances they face. Many pieces of research have shown a correlation between the long working hours and the lives they live. Men have a higher tendency of putting in long hours than women (Shields, 37). Marital status has featured in too, with men who are married, and probably have children work for up to 60 hours. Therefore, the long working hours seem like the only option for these individuals. Reducing the working hours is also linked to decreasing wages, something that many individuals cannot cope up with. There is also a chance of reduced productivity and hence a reduced GDP for the nation. It is therefore not justified to grant people a few hours to visits the movies and the gym, while the country's economy is sinking low.

While the argument of the productivity of long working hours sticks, there is a way around this. Spain in one of the most productive countries in the world yet it has the most flexible working day. According to the Estatuto de Los Trabajadores ET, Article 34 of the Workers' Statute, Spain provides a maximum of 9 hours a day, and hence 40 hours weekly, and similarly grants the power of stipulating the working conditions to the employer-employee contract (Fabrellas and Parra, 54). The workers are also allowed a three-hour lunch break, and 14 days paid holidays. A worker is entitled to a 15-minute break for every 6 hours of continuous work and 12 hours resting between two working days. With this flexibility in the working hours and days, Spain recorded a productivity index of 109.80 in 2018, as compared to the 106.10 of the United States (Trading Economics). Therefore, adjusting the working hours to 35 hours weekly is not at all a detrimental suggestion, as it has the efficacy of significantly improving productivity as well as promotes employee welfare.

Competitions, overpopulation, responsibilities, and rigid statutory laws have over time subjected employees to harsh working condition, more so the long working hours. While this has been widely accepted as the norm in every workplace, it has caused physical, mental and economic harm to the employees as well as the government. Sleep deprivation, mental instability, and accidents have become rampant, and in some cases, workers have lost their lives to overworking. Therefore, chipping off a few hours from the typical working day is only going to make the situation better, as employees will have both their social, economic, physical and mental wellbeing taken care of. It is, of course, a challenging proposal and one that is most likely going to receive criticism from employers, business owners, and government offices, but by looking at the underlying arguments presented by this issue, reducing the working is among the many ways that the production process will be upgraded in quality and quantity.

Works Cited

Fabrellas A. G. and Parra M. L. working time and flexibility in Spain. IUS labor. Pp. 54-65. http://proxymy.esade.edu/gd/facultybio/publicos/1462886541434_Working_time_and_flexibility_in_Spain.pdf

Killgore W.D. S and Weber M. Sleep Deprivation and Economic Burden: Sleep deprivation and cognitive performance. Springer New York. October 2014. Pp. 209-229. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-9087-6_16

Saad L. The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer -- by Seven Hours Full-time U.S. workers, on average, report working 47 hours weekly. Gallup. August 26, 2014. Pp. 1-7. https://news.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-longer-seven-hours.aspx

Shields M. long working hours and health. Health reports / Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Health Information. Vol. 11 issue 2. Pp. 33-48. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230858767_Long_Working_Hours_and_Health

Trading economics. Spain productivity. https://tradingeconomics.com/spain/productivityUnited States department of labor. Average hours employed people spent working on days worked by day of week. Bureau of labor statistics. https://www.bls.gov/charts/american-time-use/emp-by-ftpt-job-edu-h.htm