In 1930, with the world plunged into a deep economic depression, economist John Maynard Keynes published a rosy forecast for the future. He predicted that in 100 years, his grandchildren would only need to work 15-hour weeks, and the greatest problem facing a member of society would be “how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure, which science and compound interest will have won for him, to live wisely and agreeably and well.”
Just shy of a century later, Keynes’ prediction couldn’t be further from reality. People today feel like they’re stuck on a hamster wheel. As corporate profits soar, wages have failed to keep pace. Millions of Americans juggle multiple jobs to make ends meet. Today, the average worker has to clock 70 hours a week to sustain the same quality of life that 40 hours of work afforded 50 years ago. And for many, cellphones and laptops have made it impossible to ever escape the grip of work, even at home. With one income no longer enough to sustain an average family budget, parents’ days are lengthened by the extra time necessary to shuttle children to and from child care.
Research shows that taking time off from work actually improves productivity and reduces the risk of employee burnout.
Contrary to Keynes’ predictions, leisure time isn’t expanding; it’s disappearing. Less and less free time leaves Americans feeling more on edge, more anxious, and more alone than ever before. We are disconnected from each other mentally, physically and emotionally, and we witness the ripple effects in the erosion of civility, the growth of fringe politics, and the increase in violence, suicide and overdose rates. The nation’s emotional health is spiraling in part because there is less and less time for leisure and connection.
Research shows that taking time off from work actually improves productivity and reduces the risk of employee burnout; and public health experts have found that engaging in leisure has significant mental and physical health benefits. That’s not a shocking finding to any normal person. Anyone who works a lot and gets time off for a family event or a mini-vacation feels refreshed and in a better mindset when they get back to work.
As both parents and public servants, we have seen that the cost of this contraction of free time has been catastrophic for our families and communities. We both think of our grandfathers when trying to understand the spiritual impact of leisure time. Chris’ grandfather was an engineer who loved his job, but found the most meaning from the work he did in his free time, like helping to build a community pool or design a new senior housing complex in his town. Tim’s grandfather was a steelworker with a job that paid enough so that off the clock he could tend to his garden, go dancing with his bride and her family, volunteer at church, and attend his grandchildren’s sporting events. He even had enough time to volunteer to help build a new parish school — the one that Tim attended. He literally had time to build Tim’s future.
John Rizzi and Val Murphy had good jobs that made them proud. But much of their purpose and happiness came from the fact that their entire life wasn’t about their careers. It was about something bigger. It was about serving others, and the economy of their era gave them plenty of time to serve. The time that we have to ourselves and our families is the time that helps restore the health of our souls. For most of us, no matter how much we love our work, these moments are our most joyful — when we find perspective and purpose. If America is facing a spiritual crisis today — a crisis of meaning, identity and belonging — then having more leisure time is the medicine we need.
To return to a time when work matters less and leisure matters more, we need to build a new economy where a full-time job provides a living wage. One 40-hour-a-week income should be able to support a family of four. This would assure the worker has adequate free time, and allow one parent in two-parent households, should he or she choose, to be out of the workforce and engaged in full-time family work. The easiest way to reach this goal would be to raise the federal minimum wage. If the federal minimum wage had simply kept up with inflation, today it would be $27 an hour, instead of the current $7.25. Perhaps a nearly $20 increase would be unrealistic, but we need an aggressive effort to help workers make up for all this lost ground.
Strong labor unions will play a big role, too. Unions spent nearly a century fighting for “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what you will.” Union organizing is responsible for the few protections we have now between business and personal hours, and stronger unions will be better equipped to fight for better hours, higher wages, reliable pensions and paid leave. That’s why roughly 60% of Americans feel that the decline in union membership is bad for working people.
We can give unions the boost they need by ensuring federal dollars support union jobs, repealing so-called right-to-work laws that undermine workers, and passing the PRO Act. And we can build on a famous union victory — the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which set up the 40-hour workweek.
We also need to acknowledge that there is a growing industry devoted to exploiting our leisure time.
We haven’t made meaningful adjustments to the workweek in the 85 years since, and a reckoning is long overdue. The pandemic and the rise of remote work upended many workers’ and employers’ concept of work, providing more flexibility for some, while further blurring the distinction between work and personal time for others.
We should look at policies from countries like Japan, Spain and Britain, which have explored the four-day workweek. Early data from Britain, which recently undertook the world’s largest trial of the four-day workweek, demonstrated significant increases in work-life balance and reductions in employee stress. Call us optimists, but a bipartisan effort to give workers more time with their families probably comes with very little political risk.
We also need a national strategy to reinvest in the physical infrastructure that connects communities. We need public investments and tax incentives to rebuild and reinvigorate old downtowns, expand neighborhood parks and athletic facilities, build bike and walking trails, and clean our waters to encourage outdoor activities like hiking, kayaking and canoeing. In other words, invest in the projects that get people out of their homes and offer opportunities for us to connect with each other in communal spaces — all while creating a good number of jobs.
Finally, we also need to acknowledge that there is a growing industry devoted to exploiting our leisure time. Social media platforms are obsessed with occupying every second of our free time and profiting off the data they collect on us. Recent advancements in AI have only accelerated this trend. In 2013, the average American spent about four hours per week on social media and 6 ½ hours per week with close friends. By 2021, we were spending almost 16 hours per week on social media and just 2 hours and 45 minutes with our friends. Regulating social media and artificial intelligence to make these products less addictive can restore leisure time that enhances spiritual health, rather than companies’ bottom lines.
We both love our jobs. But we know that the good stuff — the happiness that comes from moments connected to family and friends, the fulfillment that comes with honing a craft or skill, the positive feedback loop that comes from helping others — happens off the clock. People are sick of feeling like their own time no longer belongs to them. They want meaning and connection outside of work and the most basic freedom to enjoy life on their own terms.
For too long, policy has failed to realize the metaphysical value of free time and play — even for adults. We need a new economic vision that prioritizes leisure and social connection. That’s the only path to recover the spiritual health of our nation.