WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday spoke at a U.S. Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee hearing on the need for a 32-hour workweek that gives workers a fair share of the benefits gained through advancements in technology. In his questions to Shawn Fain, International President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Murphy emphasized the importance of giving people more time to lead fulfilling lives outside of work.

Murphy pushed back on Republicans’ claim that reducing work hours is unsustainable, pointing to the diversion of an unprecedented share of economic productivity away from workers and into the hands of the 1%: “I think the fundamental question here that we're asking is: Where has all this wealth gone that has been gathered in this economy from these massive increases in productivity if it hasn't been going to workers; if the UAW and other unions have to fight tooth and nail just to be able to get living wage increases?”

Murphy continued: “Here's a stunning piece of data: for the first time, last year, the majority of wealth for new billionaires – these were people who became billionaires in 2023 – came not from their work, but through inheritance. It's the first time ever that that's happened. A thousand billionaires are expected to pass down $5.2 trillion worth of wealth to their heirs in the next 20 years. And so, you hope that if the money isn't going to the workers, it's at least being recycled back into the economy. It's just not true. A lot of that money is being hoarded and then passed down to kids who, in previous ages, would not have been able to enjoy that level of benefit from their parents’ success.”

Murphy highlighted the decline in participation in faith and civic institutions: “There’s a pretty wild thing happening in America today: in 2000, 70 percent of Americans belonged to a religious institution, but today that number is 50 percent. There has been a pretty precipitous decline in the ability or willingness of Americans to go to church or to a religious institution on a regular basis. And I think that has lots of broad impacts in our society. There are a lot of reasons for that, but one of them is that Americans just have less free time. When you have to work 70 hours to get the same standard of living for your family that 40 hours would have gotten you a few decades ago, you don't have time to go to Wednesday night Bible study; you might not have the ability to even attend church services on a Sunday.”

Murphy concluded: “A lot of people find value in work, and I’m glad that they do, but a lot of people find more value by the institutions and the social clubs and the churches that they affiliate and spend time with outside of work. But that is just less accessible for people today and that should be a public policy interest of the United States Congress.”

In December, Murphy co-wrote an op-ed with former U.S. Representative Tim Ryan (D-Ohio-13) for MSNBC making the case for a new economic vision that recognizes the importance of leisure and free time.

A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:

MURPHY: “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for convening this hearing. I think this is a really important conversation to have, regardless of where you stand on this issue. And I think the fundamental question here that we're asking is: Where has all this wealth gone that has been gathered in this economy from these massive increases in productivity if it hasn't been going to workers; if the UAW and other unions have to fight tooth and nail just to be able to get living wage increases?

“I will tell you something we haven't talked about yet. A lot of that money is going to trust funds. A lot of that money is going into inherited wealth. And at some point, we should have a conversation about that a little bit more openly as a committee and as a Congress.

“Here's a stunning piece of data: for the first time, last year, the majority of wealth for new billionaires – these were people who became billionaires in 2023 – came not from their work, but through inheritance. It's the first time ever that that's happened. A thousand billionaires are expected to pass down $5.2 trillion worth of wealth to their heirs in the next 20 years.

“And so, you hope that if the money isn't going to the workers, it's at least being recycled back into the economy. It's just not true. A lot of that money is being hoarded and then passed down to kids who, in previous ages, would not have been able to enjoy that level of benefit from their parents’ success.

“Mr. Fain, I wanted to talk to you just a little bit about leisure time. You’ve talked about this already.

“You, really importantly, talk about the importance that your faith plays in the work that you do in your life. There’s a pretty wild thing happening in America today: in 2000, 70 percent of Americans belonged to a religious institution, but today that number is 50 percent. There has been a pretty precipitous decline in the ability or willingness of Americans to go to church or to a religious institution on a regular basis. And I think that has lots of broad impacts in our society.

“There are a lot of reasons for that, but one of them is that Americans just have less free time. When you have to work 70 hours to get the same standard of living for your family that 40 hours would have gotten you a few decades ago, you don't have time to go to Wednesday night Bible study; you might not have the ability to even attend church services on a Sunday.

“You can talk about church if you want or if you don't want, but it is just true that some of the leisure time activities, some of the institutions that Americans found value and meaning in, are less accessible when you have to work these long hours. I’d love to just hear your thoughts on that.

FAIN: “One of the biggest, one of the things we talked about was the 32-hour work week when we put that in our contract talks was the fact that we wanted to create work life balance. Because it's just in this country, we are the most productive – sadly, I say, not proudly. Sadly, we are the most productive nation in the world, which means our people are working more and more hours with less and less people, and something's gotta give. And so, you know this is work life balance.

“And as I say when you're working multiple jobs to live paycheck to paycheck or you're working seven days a week, 12 hours a day, something else is sacrificed in that, and that's what ends up happening. You have to sacrifice, you know, the ability to go to church. If it's something else to do on a Sunday, maybe you get a Sunday off and you haven't slept all weekend, and you spend the whole day sleeping. I mean that that is a reality a lot of workers face on some of the schedules they work.

“And you know, the thing to me that I think, I hear all this, you know, we've heard my whole life about good for business is good for people, trickle-down economics, all those type things, but to me, we have to focus. I do believe Congress has an obligation here, spending priorities and regulations. And that may be an ugly word to some people that represent business.

“But, you know, the point of this is this should be done to create more jobs, more jobs, at a better rate of pay, so that people have more free time to live and if government's got to invest in business, the trillions of dollars we invest in business, that are taxpayer dollars invest in business, those benefits should be going to working class people, not just strictly business and that's the problem. All this money goes to business, but it never seems to funnel its way down to benefit working class people.”

MURPHY: “Well, listen, I agree with you. I think we should have an interest in leisure time. We should have an interest in making sure that people are able to find value outside of work.

“A lot of people find value in work, and I’m glad that they do, but a lot of people find more value by the institutions and the social clubs and the churches that they affiliate and spend time with outside of work. But that is just less accessible for people today and that should be a public policy interest of the United States Congress. I appreciate this hearing allowing us to talk about that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”

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