- Author: Pedro Tellería
- Date: December 1, 2025
- Web: PedroTelleria.com
- Subject: Economy, Productivity
- URL: pedrotelleria.com/article.php?id=9&lang=en
For decades we’ve been sold a seductive idea: technological advance and rising productivity would deliver an easier, richer, freer life. In part, that’s true. But the promise left a bitter aftertaste for many. We work fewer hours, yes. We’re more efficient, yes. But… do we live better?
For many, the answer is a clear no.
1. We work less, but don’t earn more
Since the 1970s, average effective working time in Europe fell from roughly 45–50 hours a week to just 32–35. A win for balance and well‑being—on paper. In practice, fewer hours didn’t bring a real rise in purchasing power.
Hourly income nudged up, but the month‑end total barely moved. Taxes climbed, household basics (housing, energy, food, transport) rose steadily, and part of the productivity gain flowed to those who innovate, invest, and master advanced tech.
2. Where is the progress?
The paradox is obvious. We’re more productive, yet we feel stuck. Why?
Because the wealth created was distributed by market rules. Much of the upside stayed with value creators (technologists, founders, investors). The average worker got a fraction. Meanwhile, more of what we earn evaporates in taxes, rising costs, or inefficient services.
Yes, music is cheaper. Clothes too. We have internet, entertainment, smartphones. But those price drops are internalized; they feel like the minimum, not progress. Meanwhile, dignified housing and healthy food got pricier, stricter—and more frustrating.
3. The unsaid part: life has a cost
There’s a growing discomfort that policy often tries to gloss over: adult life involves trade‑offs, and freedom requires responsibility.
We can work less, sure—at the price of lower pay and less saving. We can “follow our passion,” but passions rarely pay bills. We can work from home and face new frictions: self‑management, isolation, blurred boundaries.
The myth of the easy life replaced the ideal of the full life. Result: a generation with more options than ever and less clarity about wants, needs, and what they’re willing to sacrifice.
4. The upside: more freedom, more choice
Not all is bleak. The last 50 years brought real gains.
Automation removed dangerous, repetitive jobs. Women conquered public and professional spaces. Most in the West live free of war and structural violence. Choice—where to live, what to study, who to share life with—is wider than ever.
The question is: can we use that freedom well?
What used to be given—a life with meaning, a clear path, a moral scaffold—now must be built from scratch. That takes character. Independent thought. And the acceptance that not everything is the system’s, the government’s, or companies’ fault.
5. The challenge: build value, don’t beg favors
The future won’t belong to those complaining that everything is expensive, but to those who ask: how can I add more value?
That’s the key. Instead of fighting for a bigger slice of a pie we didn’t bake, we can bake our own.
That means continuous learning, strategic vision, tolerance for effort, and a growth mindset. It means dropping the victim script and acting as protagonists. No one is coming to save us—not the state, not the firm, not technology.
The story of the next years won’t be about who works less… but about who creates more.
Conclusion: Freedom, yes—but with responsibility
You have more options than ever. Live abroad. Study online for free. Start a business from home. But that takes resolve, maturity—and an uncomfortable truth: not everyone will make it.
Meritocracy isn’t perfect. The alternative—chronic grievance, forced redistribution, infantilizing citizens—doesn’t end well either.
In the end, every choice has a price. If you won’t pay it, don’t complain about the return.