Sanders Proposes 32-Hour Week & Robot Tax to Counter AI Job Threat

In a stark warning delivered via YouTube, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) declared artificial intelligence could erase approximately 100 million American jobs over the next ten years, characterizing this potential workforce transformation as an “issue of enormous consequence” that threatens to exacerbate economic inequality. His assessment draws directly from a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee minority staff report released Monday, which utilized OpenAI’s ChatGPT to analyze U.S. employment data. The analysis identified specific high-risk occupations including fast-food workers, accountants, and truck drivers—roles representing millions of American workers who could face displacement as automation accelerates.

The report connects this automation surge to decades of troubling economic trends. Since 1973, worker productivity has increased by 150% while corporate profits have skyrocketed 370%, yet real wages have actually declined by approximately $30 per week. “As a member of Congress who opposed the trade agreements that decimated communities across the country, I—like most Americans—want to see manufacturing rebuilt in the United States,” Sanders stated. “But new factories won’t mean much if the jobs are done by robots instead of people.” This widening gap between productivity gains and worker compensation forms the fundamental economic rationale behind Sanders’ intervention.

Global automation trends are rapidly transitioning from theoretical concern to tangible reality. According to the International Federation of Robotics, worldwide service robot adoption surged in 2024, with professional sales increasing 9% to nearly 200,000 units. This growth was particularly pronounced in transport and logistics robots, which reached 102,900 units representing a 14% increase, while medical robots saw explosive 91% growth to 16,700 units and cleaning robots expanded 34% to over 25,000 units. This acceleration is driven by multiple factors including persistent labor shortages, aging populations, and the emergence of Robot-as-a-Service business models that make automation more accessible to businesses.

Tech industry leaders are fueling this transformation through massive investments. Sanders specifically called out prominent billionaires including Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Larry Ellison of Oracle, noting they are collectively investing “hundreds of billions” to replace human labor. “Why are they doing that? Is it because they want to improve the lives of the 60% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay for groceries, health care, housing, and education?” Sanders questioned rhetorically. “Maybe they’re staying up nights worrying about working families—but I doubt it.”

Elon Musk’s predictions underscore the scale of this transformation. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh in October 2024, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO projected that humanoid robots would outnumber people within two decades. “I think by 2040, probably there are more humanoid robots than there are people,” Musk told the audience. “Every country will have an AI or multiple AIs, and there will be a lot of robots, way more robots than people.” Meanwhile, economists note that automation is advancing most rapidly in office environments, reshaping professional occupations once considered secure from technological displacement, including software engineers, human resources specialists, paralegals, financial analysts, and content creators.

To counter what he perceives as an existential threat to American workers, Sanders has proposed a comprehensive legislative framework built around five key pillars. The most attention-grabbing proposal calls for a 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay, effectively compressing the standard work schedule while maintaining worker income. Second, he advocates for a “robot tax” on corporations that replace human employees with automated systems, creating financial disincentives for wholesale workforce replacement.

The framework further includes requirements for worker-elected boards with 45% employee representation, giving labor a substantial voice in corporate decision-making. Additionally, Sanders proposes mandatory profit-sharing and employee ownership arrangements equal to 20% of company stock, ensuring workers benefit directly from automation-driven productivity gains. The final component encompasses expanded union rights, paid family leave, and a ban on stock buybacks—measures designed to strengthen worker bargaining power and economic security.

Sanders is not alone in calling for new protections against automation’s disruptive potential. Futurist Zoltan Istvan, during his campaign for California governor, proposed a universal basic income and “a humanoid robot in every home,” arguing that automation could create widespread prosperity only if its benefits were distributed broadly across society. These parallel proposals highlight the growing recognition among policymakers that the AI revolution requires corresponding social and economic safeguards to prevent catastrophic workforce displacement and deepening inequality.