A Japanese group of lawyers tackling karōshi, or overwork-related deaths, has protested new Liberal Democratic Party leader Sanae Takaichi's remarks calling on the ruling party's members to "work like workhorses" https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/08/japan/politics/lawyers-protest-takaichi-remarks/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #politics #sanaetakaichi #overwork #workstylereform #ldp
Caveat: I’m not a statistically literate person, far from it. I’m really just thinking about how employment reporting is a languaging practice, a storytelling practice, and all kinds of political vibing. Trump’s tantrums make this clear, but it was already there like climate change: however you count whatever you count, the underlying lived experience of trying to get through these times is that water is rising faster than we’re prepared for.
Quietly horrifying correlate to the rapid spread of #underwork is the triumphalism now associated with #overwork.
We need to stop treating these as separate phenomena. They are the two sides of the work coin flipping. As Levitt describes, overworkers are colluding with the business ideal of competitive advantage, but in working two jobs inside one salary they’re also ensuring the rise of involuntary part-time work.
AI will win this race.
https://financialpost.com/fp-work/howard-levitt-work-life-balance-dead-employers