Work 12 hours a day, three days a week and retire at 75 years old. It is the recipe of businessman Carlos Slim in the midst of the debate on the reduction of working hours, the aging of the active population and the advance of technology, which supplants jobs. According to Slim, it would allow more people to join the workforce and better balance rest time, given the prospect of greater life expectancy.
The proposal was brought to light this Thursday in Avilés at the XXVIII plenary meeting of the Círculo Montevideo Foundation, as a response to the proposal to reduce the work week to 35 hours proposed in the government agreement of PSOE and Sumar. “I think that reducing the schedule like that is nonsense; I think that what I know, I have said it several times, is that you have to work three days, twelve hours a day, three days to make room for three other people to work the other three days and retire at seventy-five, not at sixty-five or sixty,” said the businessman.
Slim recalled that “we live longer” and in all countries in the world that have social, pension and retirement policies, the labor liability caused by retirement is very high, well above the State’s resources. “It is very important that retirement is not so early,” he insisted.
The businessman highlighted the need to integrate the entire population into the economic and labor system and stressed that the best investment is to combat poverty, which is why he sees it as reasonable for them to work fewer hours to make room for other workers. Slim insisted that “it is fundamental, it is necessary for marginalized people to join the economy, with good education, training and work.” “You have to work 3 days to make room for others the other 3,” he explained.
The Mexican also pointed out that artificial intelligence (AI) will increase productivity and create another problem for employment. “We have to do what I mentioned, work fewer days, three days, not four, not five, three, more hours, more years, and by having many people, which will cause new demand for new activities, entertainment will be important, sport…”, he said.
His statements generated a great stir on the networks. Slim’s is one of the largest fortunes on the planet, with 85.7 billion dollars, about 81.175 million euros, which places him as the thirteenth most important wealth in the world, according to Forbes.
