• Wertheimer [any]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Reminds me of the time the Washington Post said Bernie was being misleading when he made a statement they agreed was true:

    “Millions of Americans are forced to work two or three jobs just to survive.”

    — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

    Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that nearly 8 million people hold more than one job. But most of those extra jobs are part time, not full time. And the “millions” of people amount to just 5 percent of Americans with jobs. So that means 95 percent of workers are not working two or three jobs “just to survive,” making this a misleading statement.

        • Tachanka [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          9 months ago

          If by full time you mean the American definition of 40 hours, then you can do it by working 80 hours a week divided by the number of days a week you work. So either by working 11.42 hours 7 days a week or working 13.3 hours 6 days a week or working 16 hours a day 5 days a week, or working 20 hours, 4 days a week. It’s impossible at 3 or fewer days a week because you exceed the physical limit of 24 hours a day. To quote Marx in Value, Price and Profit:

          […] the length of the working day is also limited by ultimate, although very elastic boundaries. Its ultimate limit is given by the physical force of the labouring man. If the daily exhaustion of his vital forces exceeds a certain degree, it cannot be exerted anew, day by day. However, as I said, this limit is very elastic. A quick succession of unhealthy and short-lived generations will keep the labour market as well supplied as a series of vigorous and long-lived generations.

          source: page 29 of this PDF

          So yeah, it will literally KILL you but you can do it… for a while.

          • atomkarinca@lemmygrad.ml
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            9 months ago

            is that humanly possible? because i think after a certain time, you would just fall sick, wouldn’t you?

            • Tachanka [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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              9 months ago

              A quick succession of unhealthy and short-lived generations will keep the labour market as well supplied as a series of vigorous and long-lived generations.

              - Marx Marx triste doomer

            • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              9 months ago

              It’s done by lots of people, I know 5 or 6 around me that work 2 full time jobs with offset schedules. It’s an 80hr work week, usually 6 or 7 days working.

                • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  9 months ago

                  Some people just do it because they don’t plan on doing it for long and just want to have extra money, but there are lots that need it to survive because the average wage is barely enough to feed yourself let alone get housing. Wages are around $1000-$1300/month and rent is usually between $1000 and $2000 depending. With studio apartments going for closer to $1200.

                  Only way to live is with roommates or some financial assistance, or you work 2 jobs. One for your rent and another for food.

            • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
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              9 months ago

              8 hours a day is already detrimental to physical and mental health but can be maintained for a long time. 12 hours will fuck you up after a time. 16 or more is entering the range of physical extermination. For comparison, in Marx time one of Britain industrial centers (Manchester or Liverpool i think) had average lifespan of worker at 15 years. Yes, fifteen.