The Fifteen-Hour Week
Essay · economics · September 2026 In 1930 Keynes predicted that within a century the rich countries would be four to eight times richer and would work fifteen hours a week. The first half came true with seven years to spare. The second did not come close, and the machines he feared would cause mass unemployment never did. Ninety-four years of data on output, hours, pay and jobs show where the productivity went: mostly into income rather than time, none of it into idleness, and since 1980, in America above all, a large part of it to the people at the top. Nobody chose that split; it was made for them. This first part follows the hours; the second, Where the Hours Went , follows the income.
