A SHORTER WORKING WEEK.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20790, 25 February 1933, Page 5

A SHORTER WORKING WEEK.

EXPERTS CONSIDER THE PROBLEM. FIGHTING UNEMPLOYMENT. GENEVA, January 9. An international attempt to drive down the working week in industry, first to 40 hours and' subsequently to 36 or 30 Lours, will be mado when the Conference On Hours of Work and Unemployment opens here to-morrow. The conference has been convened by the International Labour Office at the request of the Italian Government. It is believed by experts here that only a decrease in the hours of labour will solve ,the unemployment problem, in view of the continually growing speed of production. In tho course of a report which the exports have drawn up for the consideration of the conference, they state: "Economists, engineers, and industrialists seem agreed that the productivity of industry is fast increasing, and is likely to continue its rapid evolution. If this be so, there is growing force in the contention that what tho world most needs, in 'preparation for higher levels of material wealth, is a wider distribution of the leisure to cultivate the art of consumption and the art of intelligent living. In this view, the shorter working week is not merely a measure mado opportune by present extremity, but an essential element in any long-range social planning." The plan is for, a shorter working week without diminution in the rates of pay. The world is virtually bound at present by a sort of gentlemen's agreement that the working week in industry shall not exceed 48 hours. If the proposal for a 40-hour week finds favour (and there are indications that it will command the support of the majority), a convention establishing a 40-hour working week, with a recommendation that there shall be no reduction in tho existing ratCß of pay. will be laid before the International Labour Conference this summer and will probably be adopted. Such a convention would not he final. Soon successive blows will be struck to drivn.the wed<r« down to "6 houj?, then to SO hours. This much shorter workin? week is actually beinc; seientificalh' studied by experts at Geneva. Even a brisk short run of only 24 hours a week for every world worker must nowadays not be ruled out as unworthy of serious contemplation.