http://e-info.org.tw/node/118072
短工時減碳救地球 經濟學家推「週休第三日」
文字大小
232 2 Share1
本報2016年9月1日綜合外電報導，姜唯編譯；蔡麗伶審校
工時越長越好嗎？經濟學家指出，與其長時間缺乏效率的工作，不如擁抱短工時，「週休第三日」，不僅增加休閒時間，改善身心健康，還可能是拯救地球環境最簡單的辦法，甚至保障未來經濟，政府、政黨、智庫和社會運動者都應該認真考慮。
適當的休息除了能提升工作效率，還能大幅削減碳排。圖片來源：Björn Söderqvist（CC BY-SA 2.0）。
美經濟學者：減少工時 減少能源消耗
美國經濟學家羅斯尼克（David Rosnick）和魏斯布洛特（Mark Weisbrot）的研究指出，減少工時就會減少能源消耗。事實上，如果美國工時可減少至與歐洲相同，能源使用和碳排就會減少20%。
英國政治學者威廉斯（Alex Williams）投書英國《獨立報》指出，週休三日首先可減少大量的通勤時間以及辦公室的能源使用。當我們迫切需要大幅削減碳排、讓經濟更加環境友善，週休三日不失為最輕鬆寫意的辦法。
實務上其實早有先例。2007年美國猶他州重新調整州政府員工的工時，拉長週一到週四工時，週五不用上班，頭十個月就省下180萬美元的電費。只是工作天減少，工時不變，就減少了辦公室燈光、空調、電腦和其他設備的用電。
數千名通勤員工週五待在家，若加上減少通勤省下的碳排，每年可減少超過1萬2000噸的二氧化碳排放。
猶他州後來取消了這個實驗，因為州政府禮拜五沒上班讓居民很不方便。這樣的措施必需有配套，讓週五成為大家所共識的「週休第三日」，而不是「不上班的平常日」。不過猶他州的確證實，週休三日能夠減少對環境的傷害。
回歸工作的意義 週休三日有助提升生產力
另一個最直接的反對理由可能是「這樣我們怎麼活得下去？」不過，人類學家格雷伯（David Graeber）近期指出，大部分人的工作至少有部分是沒有意義的。
的確，經濟學家很久之前就注意到，許多工時其實是花在員工要讓老闆看到自己待在辦公室。
週休三日其他的好處還包括改善所謂的「工作／生活平衡」，恢復身心健康、給人們更多社交活動時間、照顧長輩小孩、跟參加社區活動。2015年瑞典的減少工時實驗發現，工時減少可減少生病甚至提升生產力。
經濟學家指出，基於經濟和技術的原因，政府、政黨、智庫和社會運動者都應該認真思考週休三日的可能性。
自動化程度越高，人類的工時最終將會減少。圖片來源：Brandon Zierer（CC BY 2.0）。
機器取代人力 工時最終將減少
更長期來看，機器人和機器學習系統將在數十年內取代美國47%、歐洲53%的工作。工作機會將會顯著減少，可能也需要週休三日之類的因應方式，保障基本的生活水平。
威廉斯和施尼賽克（Nick Srnicek）的新書《發明未來》（Inventing the Future）主張，自動化將會徹底改變人類的工作型態。自動化程度越高，將讓生產過程更有效率、耗能減少、人工減少，最終人類的工時將會減少。
要最小化自動化的社會衝擊、最大化自動化帶來的好處，其中一個做法就是發展共享獲益的機制，也就是延長週休和全民基本收入（Universal Basic Income）。
Why three-day weekends could help to save the world
An extra day off could radically reduce our environmental impact – and future-proof our economy
|
|
|
|
Almost everyone enjoys a bank holiday. A three-day weekend means more time to spend with family and friends, to go out and explore the world, and to relax from the pressures of working life. Imagine if, rather than a few times a year, we had a three-day weekend every week. This isn’t just a nice idea. Beyond the possibilities for leisure, three-day weekends might also be one of the easiest steps we could take to radically reduce our environmental impact – and future-proof our economy.
A reduction in working hours generally correlates with marked reductions in energy consumption, as economists David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot have argued. In fact, if Americans simply followed European levels of working hours, for example, they would see an estimated 20% reduction in energy use – and hence in carbon emissions.
With a four-day week, huge amounts of commuting to and from work could be avoided, as well as the energy outputs from running workplaces. At a point when we need to massively cut back our carbon outputs, instituting a three-day weekend could be the simplest and most elegant way to make our economy more environmentally friendly.
It’s happened before. For example, in 2007 the US state of Utah redefined the working week for state employees, with extended hours on Monday to Thursday meaning it could eliminate Fridays entirely. In its first ten months, the move saved the state at least US$1.8m (£1.36m) in energy costs. Fewer working days meant less office lighting, less air conditioning and less time spent running computers and other equipment – all without even reducing the total number of hours worked.
For one day a week, thousands of commuters were able to stay at home. If the reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions from travel were included, the state estimated a saving of more than 12,000 tons of CO2 each year.
Utah abandoned the experiment in 2011 after residents complained they were unable to access services on Fridays. It seems this sort of change has to be accompanied by a shift in our expectations so that Friday becomes a “third weekend” rather than simply a weekday without work. What Utah does show is that, replicated across an entire country, a four day week would see substantial progress towards an economy that does less damage to the environment.
Yet there would be other benefits too. Working less would improve the elusive “work/life balance”, and help to restore our mental health and physical well-being. It would also give us more time to spend on social activities, to care for children and the elderly, and to engage with our communities. Experiments with reduced working hours at select workplaces in Sweden in 2015 reduced sickness and even increased productivity.
Directing gains in economic efficiency towards increased free time and reduced energy consumption, rather than making more stuff, could create a better and more environmentally safe world.
An obvious objection might be: “How could we afford this?” But there are serious economic and technological reasons for why governments, political parties, think tanks and social movements should all start to think about advocating for the implementation of three-day weekends.
As anthropologist David Graeber has recentlycontended, many of us work jobs that, at least partially, seem pointless. Indeed, economists have long been aware of the redundant hours contained in many working days, with employees effectively under-utilised in their workplaces, yet unable to leave due to the persistent issue of “presenteeism” – where workers are valued by managers for hours logged in the office rather than productivity. Rather than work longer hours for little productive benefit, we could embrace a shorter working week and help save our planet and our own well-being.
Looking more into the long-term, a new wave of workplace automation featuring advanced robotics and machine learning systems is predicted to replace 47% of current jobs in the US in coming decades, and 54% in Europe. In these circumstances, where there will be significantly less work available, instituting policies such as three-day weekends becomes essential to make life liveable under these changed economic conditions.
As Nick Srnicek and I have argued in our book Inventing the Future, automation will soon offer us the prospect of a very different world of work. More automation would make many production processes more efficient, using less energy and less human labour until, eventually, we are largely freed from work.
The key to capturing the benefits of automation without drastic social dislocation depends in part on developing policies which work to share the gains. This means a reduced working week thanks to an extended weekend, together with a universal basic income.
None of this will happen overnight. But, if you’re in the UK and are lucky enough to have Monday off, don’t forget that extra day at home or in the park is not only fun but will help fight climate change.
Alex Williams, Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, City University London
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
沒有留言:
張貼留言