unemployment :is there a better alternative?

The impact of economic crises led to rising unemployment both in the developed and developing economies. The United States, epicenter of the recent economic debacle, still continue to grip the economic shocks that left millions unemployed. Numerous strategies were implemented to address the problem such as reducing the work- week for thirty-five hours. Such measure created mounting concerns among employees and employers alike.

There are a lot of several advantages of having to work less in a week. First, there will be a considerable amount of time to spend with family and friends. It will greatly boost one’s social life. Second, it will reduce stress consequently lead to efficiency. Third, employers will be saving up money thereby increasing their profits. In addition, some workers will use their extra time to find alternative job or to dedicate it to their other job.

On the other hand, it will also have a string of disadvantages. Chief of that is reduction of salary that will absolutely pinned down one’s finances. Second, it will create a financial stress especially those work solely for one job as they will having hard time to pay up their mortgages, credit card bills and to name a few. Moreover, productivity specifically in the manufacturing companies will be affected as they will reduce production that will surely hit hard their financial books. Some of the companies will be paying up more for the extra hour rendered compared to the traditional working hours. These translate to rising production cost and jacking up of their prices which will threaten their market share. The end result will be another horrendous crisis in the making.

To wrap it up, it clearly shows that the proposed measure will have predominant disadvantages both to the workers and businesses. It will just add insult to an injury. It would be better if the usual working hour will be retain and find another remedy to the problem. Instead of abating, it looks like its heading to escalate.