[commonturtle]

I've seen this discussion come up on HN a few times so I think people may find Tyler Cowen's talk on this subject interesting.

Some interesting bits of information:

- People do work less to some extent, but the reduction in working hours is concentrated in teen years and old age (65+).

- People seem to like work, will continue their jobs even if they win the lottery.

- Rich people (top 1%) now work longer hours than poorer people.

[tonyedgecombe]

I think the most interesting point was about how it is status driven. If you label someone as unemployed then they start to suffer. If you tell them they are retired then it's a whole different picture.

That hasn't come about by accident, we demonise unemployment which is in complete contrast to the way we talk about retirement.