Arbeit, Glück und Nachhaltigkeit

Environmental and economic policy seemed to have been in conflict for decades. But what use is a healthy forest when millions of people are without work? Even if unemployment - since the introduction of social security systems - does no longer necessarily lead to misery, distress and suffering, the stigma has a depressing effect on the concerned person and becomes a burden for society. Consequently creating jobs is the core objective of all kind of policy. The interests of future generations however are often neglected in this context. Construction or extension of streets and airports or for example industrial parks in the country are advocated with the argument of new employment. At the same time a socially and ecologically much more appropriate concept exists: The fairer distribution of paid work. In purely mathematical terms unemployment could be suppressed by an average of 30 paid working hours per week. Given the plausibility of this approach called "Short fulltime for everyone" the weak response in politics and society is surprising.

Michael Kopatz:

Arbeit, Glück und Nachhaltigkeit

Warum kürzere Arbeitszeiten Wohlbefinden, Gesundheit, Klimaschutz und Ressourcengerechtigkeit fördern

Impulse zur WachstumsWende no. 3 (February 2012)