Our Mission

Working Americans power our economy, but the economy has not been working for them. Too many Americans are one paycheck away from bankruptcy and stressed to their limits. This is toxic to American workers, their families, and their communities, who are seeing rising illness rates, lower educational outcomes for their children, widening divides in society, and environmental catastrophe.

For the last half-century, the U.S. economy has thundered ahead while leaving the bottom half of America behind. None of the prosperity of our booming economy has gone to the bottom 50% of Americans, while the top 1% has seen its income triple. The benefits of our economy cannot continue accruing only to the top.

The nation’s wealthiest and most powerful interests fought to prevent Henry Ford and Franklin Delano Roosevelt from instituting a 5 Day Week nearly a century ago, arguing that it would destroy the US economy. Instead, our economy soared to historic heights, attracting innovators and industry while creating opportunities for millions of Americans to live meaningful, productive lives. A century’s worth of innovation has since changed virtually everything else about how we work, except for our work week. At the beginning of the 20th Century, American business leaders and a president invested in American workers and their families, and the payoff lifted the nation’s economy higher than any other in the world. It’s time to do it again.

The 4-Day Week is an investment directly in America’s workers, who in turn will invest in themselves by learning new skills; find more time for family; and contribute to community, civic, and educational activities.