NEVER before have so many of the world's workers had so much time on their hands. During the past half century, the workweek in the more highly industrialized countries has been drastically shortened, and the workday has been notably cut down. Vacations have been lengthened, and retirement is offered, even enforced, at an earlier age than in previous times.
This process is continuing. There can be no doubt that with the increase of automation in farming and industry, men and women workers will have more and more free time at their disposal. Leisure is no longer the privilege of a small minority of wealthy people, but is enjoyed by multitudes, who in earlier times would have had to devote practically all their waking hours to hard labor.
How has this come about? The usual explanation is that modern science has produced laborsaving inventions and devices which have freed men from toil, that improved transportation and communications have greatly reduced the time once needed for tedious travel, and that a rising birth rate and a falling death rate have provided more people to do the world's work in less time.
