Against the background of ongoing changes in socio-political processes, the value of hired labor is being rethought, which determines the relevance of research on this topic. This article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomena of neoliberal manipulation and propaganda of a culture of employment and overwork. The article briefly shows how the transition from post-war Keynesian capitalism of the welfare state to neoliberalism placed an emphasis on profit maximization. Such policies have a negative impact on workers, causing psychological distress, instability, pressure and a negative work environment. Employment in the modern world has become a form of individual status, a measure of its usefulness, as well as a mechanism for alienating true needs, which is reflected in popular culture. It is concluded that the national interest lies in reducing the scale of economic activity and aggregate indicators, while at the same time expanding citizens' access to social benefits, including through cooperative companies and universal universal basic income. The methodological basis of the work was the work of S. V. Volodenkov, J. Ritzer, M. Fisher, N. Chomsky. as well as other works of leading foreign and Russian scientists. In the course of the study, general scientific methods were used, such as scientific observation, system analysis, comparison, abstraction and the historical method

Against the background of ongoing changes in socio-political processes, the value of hired labor is being rethought, which determines the relevance of research on this topic. This article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomena of neoliberal manipulation and propaganda of a culture of employment and overwork. The article briefly shows how the transition from post-war Keynesian capitalism of the welfare state to neoliberalism placed an emphasis on profit maximization. Such policies have a negative impact on workers, causing psychological distress, instability, pressure and a negative work environment. Employment in the modern world has become a form of individual status, a measure of its usefulness, as well as a mechanism for alienating true needs, which is reflected in popular culture. It is concluded that the national interest lies in reducing the scale of economic activity and aggregate indicators, while at the same time expanding citizens' access to social benefits, including through cooperative companies and universal universal basic income. The methodological basis of the work was the work of S. V. Volodenkov, J. Ritzer, M. Fisher, N. Chomsky. as well as other works of leading foreign and Russian scientists. In the course of the study, general scientific methods were used, such as scientific observation, system analysis, comparison, abstraction and the historical method