"The spectre of AI-driven job losses has been the subject of much debate. But missing almost entirely from this debate is the idea that the increased productivity associated with AI should deliver a reduction in working hours, rather than an increase in wages or, more likely, corporate profits."
"The initial effect of the factory system was not only to destroy the cottage industry of handloom weaving but to drastically increase the hours and intensity of work. Average working time in Britain reached nearly 70 hours a week in the early 19th century, with some factory workers doing as much as 12 hours a day, six days a week."
"From the middle of the 19th century to the late 20th century, the benefits of technological progress were reflected in steadily reducing hours of work. Australia and New Zealand led the way with the achievement of the eight-hour day beginning in the 1850s. Over the next 100 years, standard weekly hours were reduced from 48 hours to 44 and then to 40."
Atlassian's announcement of 10% staff layoffs highlights AI's transformative impact on the software industry, where tools like Claude significantly boost developer productivity. Historically, technological advances from the Industrial Revolution onward initially worsened working conditions, with 19th-century factory workers enduring 70-hour weeks. However, from the mid-1800s through the late 1900s, workers and unions successfully converted technological progress into reduced working hours, achieving the eight-hour day and eventually the 40-hour week. Australia and New Zealand pioneered these gains. Since 1980, this progress stalled as union power declined and governments shifted allegiance to employers, leaving AI's productivity benefits unequally distributed.
#artificial-intelligence-and-employment #working-hours-and-labor-rights #technological-progress-and-worker-benefits #union-power-and-labor-history
Read at www.theguardian.com
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