Labour and work

The world is not running out of work, as some theorists have claimed, but the work that there is is not well distributed. Those who have jobs are working longer hours, whereas others have no work at all. In 1995, overtime hours logged amounted to the equivalent of 1.7 million additional jobs at 39 hours per week. The political economist Paul Hirst has suggested that the current global economic situation represents a return to the conditions of the 'belle epoque' before World War I, when shorter work hours became a labor issue.