Environmental impacts of productivity-led working time reduction

Cieplinski, André; D’Alessandro, Simone; Guarnieri, Pietro

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106822

Cited by 22 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…A consensus exists that social protection must be organised independently of economic growth (Hirvilammi, 2020). Potential levers include structural and sectoral change (Hardt et al, 2021), curbing rent extraction (Stratford, 2020), containing labour productivity or labour volume (Cieplinski et al, 2021), and overcoming the ‘jobs and growth treadmill’ (Wiese and Mayrhofer, 2020). Principles of sustainable welfare: Principles of sustainable welfare can be based on human well-being, which includes social participation, opportunities for meaningful activity and psychological well-being, in addition to the material well-being of its citizens (Hirvilammi and Helne, 2014).…”

Section: Results: 20 Research Topics and Increasing Research Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Peaks and gaps in eco-social policy and sustainable welfare: A systematic literature map of the research landscape

Bohnenberger

2023

European Journal of Social Security

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The social impacts of the climate crisis and the need for societal transformation to achieve climate goals require integrated research and design of environmental policy and social security. The article analyses the current state of research on eco-social policy and sustainable welfare. Based on a systematic literature review covering more than 1000 publications, the article identifies 20 research topics. Strong research progress has been made on social compensation for climate policies; economic inequality in the climate crisis; energy use patterns in housing, mobility, and nutrition; political conditions for eco-social policy; and varieties in eco-social country regimes. Future research activities should focus on the five bottlenecks detected in the emerging research topics: the reduction in the environmental burden through a change in demand structures by the welfare state; growth-independence of social security; support for socio-ecological transformations by altered financing of welfare states; eco-social insurance and institutions; and ecological mainstreaming in the domains of social security. Discussing the explanatory factors for past research activity and sketching the elements of sustainable welfare states, the article concludes with the historical importance of including ecological concerns in social security.

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Section: Results: 20 Research Topics and Increasing Research Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Peaks and gaps in eco-social policy and sustainable welfare: A systematic literature map of the research landscape

Bohnenberger

2023

European Journal of Social Security

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“…A future energy policy simulation conducted for Italy showed that a reduction in working time advanced environmental gains, at the cost of reduced incomes, suggesting the need for compensatory factors such as a basic income, again highlighting the link between income and carbon footprints (Cieplinski et al 2021a). This finding is supported by an additional investigation on productivity-led working time reduction and the commensurate reduction in carbon emissions that are not sustained at the same level when increased wages are allocated to lower working times (Cieplinski et al 2021b). Considering an alternative approach called the 'compressed work week', whereby employees increased their daily working time from 8 to 10 h, but worked one less day per week, a study in Utah found that this approach led to a 2% reduction in fuel consumption linked with a 14% reduction in carbon emissions (Percoco 2018).…”

Section: Background and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 91%

Investigating the impact of working arrangements and lifestyle factor importance on environmental consciousness

Chapman

Karmaker

Shigetomi³

2023

Environ. Res. Commun.

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This study investigates the impact of people’s demographics, preferred working arrangements and utilization of their free time on environmental consciousness. Such an investigation is timely because of the changing expectations around working, and the rising popularity of work-from-home arrangements leading to increased flexibility. Although the link between income and environmental impact is well understood, the mediating factors between working arrangements and environmental concerns remain unclear. Through the analysis of a nationally representative survey conducted in Japan, we clarify people’s desire to work shorter hours, subject to the maintenance of income levels, along with a desire to consider revised working arrangements if environmental improvements can be anticipated as a result. One important finding of this research is that those who prioritize their free time for family and friends have a much higher probability of valuing the environment and thus reducing their carbon footprint. These findings have implications for policy design which encourages low impact working arrangements, the sharing economy and a family friendly society.

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“…Transformation scenarios require a work time reduction for those overworking and overproducing. One can distinguish several subordinate strategies: An external employment time reduction can be implemented by a general reduction of the workweek to 32 h or a 4-day-week, new public holidays, or a reduction of employment time in proportion to labor productivity increases-making sure productivity increases do neither lead to overproduction nor lay-offs (Cieplinski et al 2021). Temporal differentiation of social security can incentivize employers to offer a 25-h work week, by extending the predominating income-dependent contribution rate by a time-dependent contribution rate for employers that sets the lowest social security contributions rate at 25 h per week and increasing the rates to the margins.…”

Section: Work Time Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greening work: labor market policies for the environment

Bohnenberger

2022

Empirica

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Jobs are essential for social inclusion, raising taxes, and guaranteeing the financial resilience of (welfare) states. At the same time, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the European Green Deal require the greening of our economies and labor markets. This paper assesses how labor market policies can green employment. The paper analyses the potential effects of eight different policy strategies on four dimensions of the Taxonomy of Sustainable Employment: conversion of plants and businesses, environmental labor law, climate decommodification, socio-ecological job guarantee, vocational guidance and retraining, distribution of employment time, alternative income sources, and equalization of income. All eight strategies have the potential of greening employment but feature different intensities in the four dimensions. In the light of environmental crises, the results suggest widening the toolbox of labor market policies for a green and just transition.

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Environmental impacts of productivity-led working time reduction

Cited by 22 publications

References 31 publications

Peaks and gaps in eco-social policy and sustainable welfare: A systematic literature map of the research landscape

Peaks and gaps in eco-social policy and sustainable welfare: A systematic literature map of the research landscape

Investigating the impact of working arrangements and lifestyle factor importance on environmental consciousness

Greening work: labor market policies for the environment

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