Better than growth - Australian Conservation Foundation

2 Better work
balancing paid and non-paid work, family and
leisure time
› We lack time in our own lives: time for ourselves, time for family, time for
community. And so much of the destruction that we wreak on the environment is
because of man’s desire to find more time. … We are so busy saving time that we
often don’t get round to using it for the good things in life. … I’d like us to think
not just about how we give people a tax cut, but how we give them a time increase. ‹
david Cameron, leader UK Conservative Party, 2006
› We are the only species without full employment. ‹ Matthew Fox, theologian
In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes speculated that, due to major
advances in productivity in the 20th century, people in wealthy countries
would have no need to work more than about 15 hours per week. Within a
hundred years, he said, “the economic problem might be solved”. 15
Keynes was right in his prediction of greater productivity, but
spectacularly wrong in his vision of a future era of leisure. Rather than
enjoying more leisure, we have consistently spent nearly all of our
‘productivity dividends’ on working more and increasing material
consumption whilst also increasing our personal and national debts.
In fact, far from reducing hours of work, Australians are working
harder than ever. From 1985 to 2009, the number of working-age
Australians increased by 42.3 per cent, but the total number of hours
worked increased by 50.3 per cent. And overwork is not always a matter
of a willing trade-off between time and money. Twenty-two per cent of
men and 19 per cent of women workers would prefer to be working fewer
In 2007, 28.7% of full-time workers in Australia
worked 50 hours per week or more. 16 Of these
workers, 46% would prefer to work fewer hours,
accepting a drop in pay. 17
15. John Maynard Keynes,
Economic Possibilities for
our Grandchildren (1930)
16. ABS 6361.0, Table 4
17. Australian Social Trends,
ABS 4102.0, ‘Trends in
Work’
ACF BETTER THAN GROWTH 11