Less work, more play: Policy for our future?

Artificial intelligence is coming for our jobs. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted AI could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar positions. OpenAI’s Sam Altman says he can imagine AI handling 40% of the work done in today’s economy.

Already, tens of thousands of layoffs have been attributed directly to AI and automation. New Mexico cannot afford to wait for the coming tsunami of layoffs to hit and then scramble to respond. We need to get ahead of it, and a four-day workweek policy is one of the smartest tools we have to do that.

The two-day weekend was enshrined in federal law in 1938. It was designed around a family structure that no longer exists — one where a single income supported the household and the spouse remained home to handle all the unpaid domestic labor: cooking, cleaning, childcare and every errand that keeps a family functioning. That model is largely gone.

Today, the overwhelming majority of New Mexico households depend on two working adults, yet we still operate on the same schedule built for a different era. The domestic work did not disappear. It just got compressed into evenings and weekends already stretched to their limit (I know you can relate).

American worker burnout has hit a six-year high, with nearly 3 in 4 employees reporting moderate to high stress on the job, with more than half feeling “used up” by the end of every workday. That is not a personal failing. It is the predictable result of a system that has never caught up to the lives people are actually living.

And when people are that depleted, they do not catch a show at a neighborhood venue, stroll to their local restaurant or explore our beautiful state. They doomscroll, order from Amazon and stream Netflix.

Exhaustion does not build happy families and local economies. It siphons wealth from them and into the pockets of corporations with no stake in our communities and algorithms designed to hook users.

Real leisure, the kind that produces connection, creativity and genuine local economic participation requires more than just less social media. It requires an economy built around a four-day workweek.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the New Mexico Legislature have made remarkable progress on affordability — such as universal childcare — that puts real money back into the pockets of New Mexico families. That work matters and should continue. But putting money in people’s pockets only goes so far if they have no time to enjoy it and spend it at at local businesses that recirculate that wealth back into our state.

The next frontier of family policy is not just financial, it is temporal. Leisure time is not a luxury. It is the economic infrastructure of a more enjoyable and prosperous future for our state.

A four-day workweek does not shrink the economy, it distributes it more fairly. This keeps more people employed, creates another weekend day for people to go out and spend their money and helps distribute the wealth — rather than isolate it.

Evidence says it works, too. A landmark 2022 pilot study in the United Kingdom enrolled more than 60 companies and 3,000 workers in a six-month trial of the four-day workweek with no pay reduction.

Productivity held steady. Burnout dropped. Retention improved. 92% of the companies continued the four-day work week after the study ended. Similar results have emerged from trials in Iceland, Japan and Portugal.

So, what should New Mexico actually do? The Legislature could establish a four-day workweek tax credit for businesses shifting employees to a 32-hour schedule at full pay. Workforce development grants through the Economic Development Department could be tied to employers who adopt shortened schedules. The governor could pilot the policy across state agencies by executive order. And any business receiving a state economic development incentive could be required to demonstrate schedule flexibility, making leisure time a condition of public investment rather than an afterthought.

The weekend was a radical idea once. Now it is the most cherished part of our week. Give New Mexico families one more day. One more day to relax, with the people they love. Not someday in the far-off future, but now, while there’s still time to shape our economy for the benefit of all New Mexicans.