Should the 8-hour work system be adhered to?

According to economist Gu Chaoming, an economy should invest all resources to ensure rapid and high-quality economic growth during the period of rapid economic growth. And the eight-hour working system that affects the efficiency of economic productivity is obviously not what we should pursue at present.

In recent years, it is obvious that many people have heard countless discussions about the aging population and the middle-income trap. Every economy in history can only maintain economic growth for a period of time, and then it will enter a stage of slow growth, without exception.

Because there are always areas where labor costs are lower and engineers work harder, a lot of investment will naturally be transferred to these areas.

This first happened in the United States and Europe, which were chased by Japan. Japan became the world's number one labor factory, and the "four little dragons in Asia" pursued it, and then our rise came. Now facing the impact of Southeast Asia. As long as global trade continues, this change is inevitable.

Therefore, when we are still in a period of rapid economic growth, we should make every effort to ensure rapid and high-quality economic growth, because in five or ten years, growth will definitely slow down.

I believe many people have felt that our economic growth has begun to slow down, but it was not like this ten years ago. We have the greatest history of economic growth in human history, and no economy can increase the per capita GDP from $300 to 10000 in just over 30 years.

At present, we should use as many active policies as possible to prolong the process of economic growth as much as possible. More domestic companies may be forced to transfer production capacity because of the rising labor costs caused by the aging of the labor force and the decrease of the labor force population in ten years.

Therefore, although the eight-hour work system is very important, it is far less important than its growth.

Everyone wants to live a better life, and we should also see that some people live a better life than Americans. However, the next 65.438+00 years will be crucial if 65.438+400 million people are to live this life and reach the standard of living in the first world.

The eight-hour working day is actually not that important.

At least in the era of pursuing growth, it is not that important.

There is a basic concept in economics that rights are not born, but given by people.

What does this mean?

Many people think that the eight-hour work system seems to be an innate thing, but it is not; It is only a hundred years since the establishment of the eight-hour working system, and a lot of blood has been shed. At the beginning of the last century, the labor situation in the United States was also very bad.

American workers have to work more than ten hours a day, the working environment is dirty, the age of employment is not so limited, and the wages are pitiful. In order to change this situation, a large number of American workers rose up and were shot dead mercilessly, and the death toll exceeded hundreds. In this way, they struggled step by step and got the internationally recognized eight-hour working system today.

Why is it an eight-hour working day?

Because there are 24 hours in a day, workers sleep for eight hours, work for eight hours, and entertain themselves for the remaining eight hours.

Practically speaking, most private enterprises in China do not have the conditions for employees to work eight hours a day. Although the labor law says so, as far as the actual situation is concerned, it is obvious that we have not yet strictly implemented the eight-hour working system. There are not so many reasons, but the most crucial one is that the competitive pressure is too great and the cost of enterprises is too high.

But this is by no means caused by the large population. There are many reasons for this situation, such as low income brought by low labor force, low commodity prices and low profit rate of enterprises, which makes it difficult for the eight-hour working system to give play to our comparative advantages.

Cheap labor is just one of the reasons why we become the factory of the world. Another bigger factor is that we are more diligent and work longer hours. If all factories in the country implement the eight-hour working system, then in the global trading system, we have obviously lost our greatest advantage, that is, productivity efficiency.

For factories, if the eight-hour working day is strictly implemented, there are only two results. Either the basic salary is too low and no workers are willing to come to work, or the salary is too high and the working hours are short, which will eventually lead to the factory losing competitiveness and bankruptcy.

When many people talk about the eight-hour working system, they often cite the example that the eight-hour working system is strictly enforced in Europe and America. Why can't it be strictly enforced?

This is actually what I said before. Power is not born, but given by people. Many people think that the eight-hour work system seems to be innate, but it is not.

It was after the pain of economic transformation that the United States successfully reached an agreement with enterprises on the eight-hour working system, which was finally established by law. When we say today that Europe and the United States did not participate, we simply did not see that Europe and the United States participated more, cruelly and bloodily than we did.

Today, we can enjoy the eight-hour work system with our fingers. In fact, others have already lost a lot of blood.

Obviously, our productivity, efficiency and income economic structure are far from being comparable to those in Beverly Hills and the eight-hour working system in Europe and America. That's because we are still a long way from that society.

In an economy whose economic structure depends on low labor force, if the eight-hour working system is pursued excessively, it will obliterate the possibility of expanding business and production and bring more human expenditure and burden to enterprises. Finally, when the enterprise is unable to operate, where can the workers make a living?

This is a very simple choice.

Suppose you are an economist, do you want an eight-hour working day or a more favorable environment for economic growth?

Therefore, it is easy for us to understand why we have a labor law, but it is not strictly enforced. This is because we are still in a period of rapid economic growth, because our labor cost is still relatively low, and our manufacturing industry does not have absolute advantages.

However, of course, we should take care of things that violate the bottom line, such as not paying wages, abusing, defaulting on or even not paying wages, and not signing labor contracts, because these behaviors are more lethal and intolerable than the eight-hour working system.

Therefore, smart companies know that overtime pay can be negotiated with employees, or at least they can sign voluntary overtime agreements with employees, but if they don't sign labor contracts with employees and don't pay wages, the nature is completely different.

There is no myth that you can have your cake and eat it. Sometimes, we must learn to choose and maximize our interests. It is true that when 200 1 joined the WTO, in order to comply with the relevant regulations, we promulgated a series of relevant labor laws to protect the rights and interests of workers, but these rights and interests are not innate and must be supported by suitable soil.

Business owners and workers are like two ends of a coin. In the case of low operating profit and labor price, if the rights and interests of workers are over-protected, the employment cost of business owners will inevitably increase greatly, which may lead to the injury of workers' own rights and interests.

For example, if we really strictly stipulate the eight-hour working system, then the only option for business owners may be to destroy it, especially in the case of bad orders and low profit margins. If I hire a worker to lose money, the business owner will definitely choose to close the factory.

The eight-hour working system popular in Europe and America today has a historical background. People's income has greatly increased, with a per capita GDP of 30,000 US dollars. At this time, we can talk about workers' welfare, but before that, when our per capita GDP is only more than 10 thousand dollars, it is best not to engage in fancy things, but to pursue development wholeheartedly, so as to maximize benefits.

This truth is actually quite simple. Although the boss makes money, he may not give me a promotion and salary increase, but he will definitely give me a salary reduction or dismiss me if he loses money.

Therefore, the essence of the eight-hour working system is to reduce the cost and risk of employers and maximize the operating profit of enterprises, thus driving more business owners to expand the scale of operation and production, recruiting more people and driving greater economic scale effect.

As for the strict implementation of the eight-hour working system by civil servants and state-owned enterprises, it is of course another matter, and this cannot be said too much.

But it only confirms my own point of view from the side, that is, the operating environment of private enterprises is relatively difficult.

The simplest way to compare is not to compare the welfare in Europe and America with ours, but also to look at the comprehensive evaluation and comparison of operating profit, employee income and environment, so as to be comparable.

The French often tell such a joke: an American went to France and met a French farmer. He said, "What do you mean you have everything in France?" "Left is to divide money, right is to make money." "Why turn left and right later?" "If you have no money, you will make money. Divide the money if you have it. It's that simple. "

You see, this joke can explain some problems to a great extent. When we have no money, we should bury ourselves in making money. For example, at present, we pay attention to economic benefits and economic construction. When we have money, we can divide the money and all kinds of benefits will come.

This is the simplest truth.

End.

Author: Mr. Luo, new youth workplace reference. An optimistic pessimist cares about the logic behind the development of things. Pay attention to me and sharpen my knowledge for you.

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