Home Money-Business-Jobs Carlos Slim Proposes 3-Day Workweek

Carlos Slim Proposes 3-Day Workweek

September 3, 2022

During the “Mexico Siglo XXI” (21st Century Mexico), an event for scholars organized by the Telmex-Telcel Foundation held yesterday, the billionaire Mexican businessman Carlos Slim proposed that working weeks in Mexico should be reduced from 6 to 3 days, with up to a maximum of 36 hours per week, and with retirement beginning at age 75 years. He said that this would double the labor supply that is beginning to be increasingly demanded by the Mexican productive force.

He said, “As this new civilization develops, and productivity rises to very high levels, many people, especially young people, do not find jobs or good jobs. So there is the approach that, I think that should really begin to be adopted, is that most people work three days, 11 or 12 hours. This would be 36 hours, but they work until they are 75 years old.”

According to the businessman, “the idea that a person retires at 60 or 65 years of age is absurd ,” since he believess that extending the age requirement to enjoy this benefit will prevent both public finances and security funds from collapsing

“It would also be very important so that the governments and the pension and social security funds are not bankrupt due to the inability to finance the retirement of people from 60 to 65 years of age,” he said.

In the same way, he stressed that a new Mexican society is currently being composed that demands education, health, training, and, above all, “well-paid employment,” since it is becoming a “service society,” in which physical work is beginning to disappear.

“Lowering work to 4 days does not open up new opportunities, but with 3 days, employment could double where this happens,” he warned.

Carlos Slim, who owns Grupo Carso, affirmed that the new society also “demands the fight against poverty and ignorance,” which he said is not just a fight for ethical, moral, or social justice issues, but “an economic necessity” of this new civilization.

In addition, he said that the jobs that begin to emerge should target the sectors of education, culture, entertainment, and tourism, among others.