Legislating Leisure

If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day
--Bachman-Turner Overdrive

New labor agreement obliges French workers to ignore work-related emails once the work day is officially over. This is on top of other government-imposed restrictions that includes a 35 hour work week cap.

What employers in their right minds would want to operate in such a hostile environment?  Well, some might do so out of patriotism. Others, having been institutionalized in an environment where people are not free to make their own decisions, might simply continue to comply with governmental mandates. Still others may perceive market opportunities that outweigh the negatives of operating in such a hampered system.

Beyond such groups, we can be sure that capacity will leave the system--or never enter to begin with in the case of entrepreneurs who decide to look elsewhere for opportunities.

Workers willing to work outside of government mandated parameters are also hurt. Like minimum wage laws, rules that force workers to do something that they would not freely do serve as forms of compulsory unemployment.

Those who applaud laws that mandate leisure reveal themselves as fools. Although people generally prefer leisure over labor, leisure is generally enjoyable to the extent that goods and services are available to consume while at rest.

Someone must produce those goods and services. If that production is impaired, then the quality of leisure declines.

When leisure is legislated, standard of living falls.