Dance of the Hours

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Article from Issue 282/2024
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Sometimes the data points in the news come in pairs, or at least they converge into pairs when you stop to think about them. I noticed a story this month on the many layoffs in the tech industry.

Dear Reader,

Sometimes the data points in the news come in pairs, or at least they converge into pairs when you stop to think about them. I noticed a story this month on the many layoffs in the tech industry. According to the report, 50,000 tech employees have lost their jobs so far in 2024. 2023 saw 260,000 lose their jobs, the biggest total since the bust in the wake of the dot-com era [1].

The other story that caught my eye was about a bill in the US Senate to mandate a 32-hour work week instead of the customary 40-hour week [2]. I'm not exactly sure why I think these stories belong together, other than the fact that the rise of AI is often cited as a reason for some of the house clearing. AI reduces the need for human workers. Of course, all companies are always in search of greater efficiency, and efficiency means doing more in fewer hours. Another story in the news notes that Mercedes has entered into a plan to replace humans with robots for "low skill, physically challenging, manual labor" [3].

[...]

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