Senator Sanders and the Average Workweek

[DEAD7]

Senator Sanders and the Average Workweek
By Chelsea German



Senator Bernie Sanders recently tweeted the following.

Fortunately, the gruelingly long workweek described by Sanders is not the norm. In fact, leisure time has been on the rise. In 1950, an average U.S. worker worked 1,984 hours a year, or about 38 hours a week. In 2015, an average American worker worked 1,767 hours, or about 34 hours a week.

That means that the average U.S. worker had 217 more hours for leisure or other pursuits in 2015 than in 1950. That is about 9 days of extra time.

The 50-hour workweek described by Sanders is more common in China, where the average worker worked 2,432 hours in 2015, or around 47 hours a week. Compare other countries using our interactive dataset.

 

[Tate]

Seems like an easily manipulated statistic

 

[Rarely-Wrong Liggins]

Yeah, that's what happens when careers are replaced with part time service industry jobs.

 

[acri1]

Dishonest. He's talking about people making minimum wage (or close to it) who wouldn't make enough to survive if they worked 40 hours.

 

[tmonster]

workweek described by Sanders is not the norm. In fact, leisure time has been on the rise. In 1950, an average U.S. worker worked 1,984 hours a year, or about 38 hours a week. In 2015, an average American worker worked 1,767 hours, or about 34 hours a week.

at this rate work will be obsolete in 5 years
good news everyone

 

[Scoop]

You're not supposed to be supporting yourself at minimum wage jobs.

The problem is too many people work at fast food places and think they should still have smartphones and cars.

Min wage jobs are jobs for highschoolers not supporting themselves.

 

[5n0man]

You're not supposed to be supporting yourself at minimum wage jobs.

The problem is too many people work at fast food places and think they should still have smartphones and cars.

Min wage jobs are jobs for highschoolers not supporting themselves.

The problem is that all the jobs have been sent overseas and service industry jobs have become abundant, companies now produce products over seas for pennies and only need american workers to sell said product.

School has become another business to extract money from people and it isn't the garenteed career it used to be. You gotta live with yo parents until your 26 like a bytch or you gotta get like 3 roommates like a bum to put yourself through college while taking out rediculous loans.

It wasn't always like this.

 

[Tate]

You're not supposed to be supporting yourself at minimum wage jobs.

The problem is too many people work at fast food places and think they should still have smartphones and cars.

Min wage jobs are jobs for highschoolers not supporting themselves.

Bad post, consider editing.

 

[Jhoon]

Only Americans can find pleasure in working 3000 work weeks while settling for no rise in wage.

 

[Scoop]

Bad post, consider editing.

Bad rebuttal, consider trying harder.

 

[Scoop]

The problem is that all the jobs have been sent overseas and service industry jobs have become abundant, companies now produce products over seas for pennies and only need american workers to sell said product.

School has become another business to extract money from people and it isn't the garenteed career it used to be. You gotta live with yo parents until your 26 like a bytch or you gotta get like 3 roommates like a bum to put yourself through college while taking out rediculous loans.

It wasn't always like this.

I'm in school completely on loans right now and I've worked min wage jobs before so I know the struggle

But

You have to plan your life out right and go to school for something you can actually get a good job with. And get at least average grades while in school. You have to do that while realizing smartphones and cars are luxuries that you may not always have. I know that's such a huge sacrifice in today's culture (sarcasm) but if you do that, you'll be fine.

Why would a job that pays the minimum be for people who do not have the minimum expenses (ie. someone not supporting themselves)?

 

[5n0man]

I'm in school completely on loans right now and I've worked min wage jobs before so I know the struggle

But

You have to plan your life out right and go to school for something you can actually get a good job with. And get at least average grades while in school. You have to do that while realizing smartphones and cars are luxuries that you may not always have. I know that's such a huge sacrifice in today's culture (sarcasm) but if you do that, you'll be fine.

Why would a job that pays the minimum be for people who do not have the minimum expenses (ie. someone not supporting themselves)?

Let's stop acting like this is a fantasy world.

First of all, a car is NOT a luxury, it's a necessity in many places. Not everyone lives in new york.

Planning your course of action is very smart but even then, that's not always a garenteed career anymore.

Now you have to go to school for much longer than before because jobs aren't satisfied with just an associates degree any more, you gotta come better than that. That means going further into dept. Not to mention school has NEVER been as expensive as it is today, while wages have been stagnant for decades.

They also require actual work experience in the field your going for and for someone with simply their education and no connections are gonna have a more difficult time than they would have 40 years ago.

It is not always realistic to work full time and go to school.

Where I live, 15 an hour isn't even enough to support yourself, forget minimum wage.

School is not designed to be achieved by everyone, an expecting everyone to go to school is not a realistic answer. What happen to all the decent physical labor jobs that use to pay so well? That's what you should be asking.

Cause the problem isn't that people are lazy, wanting to work minimum wage and live like a king, the problem is that middle class manual labor jobs have been sent over seas and replaced with low paying jobs.

 

[Tate]

You're not supposed to be supporting yourself at minimum wage jobs.

The problem is too many people work at fast food places and think they should still have smartphones and cars.

Min wage jobs are jobs for highschoolers not supporting themselves.

The minimum wage was not established as a way of ensuring that high school kids have pocket change. The federal minimum wage was proposed as a way to bring about a living wage for all. Stupid point on your end.

Working people deserve the wealth they create. Stupid point here as well.

Your post is pretty stupid on all levels

 

[Scoop]

The minimum wage was not established as a way of ensuring that high school kids have pocket change. The federal minimum wage was proposed as a way to bring about a living wage for all. Stupid point on your end.

Working people deserve the wealth they create. Stupid point here as well.

Your post is pretty stupid on all levels

Realities have changed since the min wage was created. Sorry bud.

 

[Tate]

Realities have changed since the min wage was created. Sorry bud.

Deep, well thought out response.