A shorter working week would accomplish something similar. You can phase it in by mandating OT pay for hourly employees after 40h, then 35h, then 30h. Eventually, salaried jobs will catch up.

Have we not learned anything from France? That was the exact same argument made for the 35 hour workweek and it had no positive effect on unemployment rates. It's a ridiculous idea. We have unemployment chronically above 10% both with a 35 hour week and generous vacation and leave.

Would it surprise you to learn that France has a much higher employed proportion of their population than the US?

http://i.imgur.com/g9NA76s.png

An extra 5% of working age employment in the US would mean something like 7M more jobs.

Would you have less unemployment with a 40 hour work week? An 80 hour work week?

I could imagine why that would be the case.

The more important question is, how are similar countries that didn't adopt the 35 hour week doing?