If you are self-employed and paid by the job/hour "reduced work week" is not really viable. This applies in Europe, too.

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Ericson2314 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Where in an equilibrium where gig wages are too low, because the precarity means the gig worker is desperate.

With enough welfare state, the gig worker wouldn't be so desperate, and gig rates would go up. Of course they would push some employers back to permenant employment, but this is fine. It would be like spot market vs longer term deals for everything else.

I'm convinced the length of the workweek is totally exogenous. I don't think there is a feedback mechanism within capitalism to adjust it. This is actually a bummer.

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mytailorisrich 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Jobs like food delivery for Deliveroo, etc. are very low productivity and consumers are not willing to pay a lot for delivery.

This type of jobs can only be paid at the low end. Rates don't go up, they can't. What's happening s is that those jobs and services disappear. That's good if that leads to higher productivity, better paid jobs, but not if that leads to unemployment.

This has an impact on the length of the workweek, too. But in any case all self-employed must decide whether they can afford to cut their hours or if they can commercially.

The "welfare state" must be paid for somehow, too.

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Ericson2314 8 hours ago | parent [-]

If it's too low productivity then it shouldn't exist. This is, mathematically speaking, orthogonal to gig vs non-gig.

	▲	mytailorisrich 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		This sounds like a value judgment or authoritarian edict. Luckily in a free society this is not for anyone to decide.