“Friday off”: Reducing Working Hours in Europe

Abstract

This article explores the pros and cons for reducing working hours in Europe. To arrive to an informed judgment we review critically the theoretical and empirical literature, mostly from economics, concerning the relation between working hours on the one hand, and productivity, employment, quality of life, and the environment, on the other. We adopt a binary economics distinction between capital and labor productiveness, and are concerned with how working hours may be reduced without harming the earning capacity of workers. There are reasons to believe that reducing working hours may absorb some unemployment, especially in the short-run, even if less than what is advocated by proponents of the proposal. Further, there may well be strong benefits for the quality of peoples' lives. Environmental benefits are likely but depend crucially on complementary policies or social conditions that will ensure that the time liberated will not be directed to resource-intensive or environmentally harmful consumption. It is questionable whether reduced working hours are sustainable in the long-term given resource limits and climate change. We conclude that while the results of reducing working hours are uncertain, this may be a risk worth taking, especially as an interim measure that may relieve unemployment while other necessary structural changes are instituted. OPEN ACCESS

Assessing the degrowth discourse: A review and analysis of academic degrowth policy proposals

“…Appendix A Philippe (2008) 19 Johanisova and Wolf (2012) 37 Domènech et al (2013) 2 Huppes and Ishikawa (2009) 20 Kallis et al (2012) 38 Garver (2013) 3 Cattaneo and Gavaldà (2010) 21 Klitgaard and Krall (2012) 39 Infante Amate and González de Molina (2013) 4 Hueting (2010) 22 Muraca (2012) 40 Jarvensivu (2013) 5 Kallis and Martínez-Alier (2010) 23 Nierling (2012) 41 Johanisova et al (2013) 6 Latouche (2010) 24 Speth (2012) 42 Kallis et al (2013) 7 Lietaert (2010) 25 Tokic (2012) 43 Kallis (2013) 8 Martínez-Alier et al (2010) 26 Trainer (2012) 44 Karlsson (2013) 9 Matthey (2010) 27 van den Bergh and 45 Lorek and Fuchs (2013) 10 Schneider et al (2010) 28 van Griethuysen (2012) 46 Mauerhofer (2013) 11 Berg and Hukkinen (2011) 29 Xue et al (2012) 47 Nørgård (2013) 12 Hall (2011) 30 Alcott (2013) 48 Sekulova et al (2013) 13 Kallis (2011) 31 Alexander (2013) 49 Sorman and Giampietro (2013) 14 Schneider et al (2011) 32 Boonstra and Joose (2013) 50 Andreoni and Galmarini (2014) 15 Alexander (2012) 33 Borowy (2013) 51 …”

The proximity of nations to a socially sustainable steady-state economy

“…This concern has led a number of authors to suggest that special policies would be needed to maintain full employment in a steady-state economy. These include working time reduction (Lintott, 2004;Schor, 2005;Kallis et al, 2013), a job guarantee (Lawn, 2004;Alcott, 2013), or the shift towards lower productivity sectors of the economy (Jackson and Victor, 2011;Nørgård, 2013).…”

Ecological Econophysics for Degrowth

“…Since markets are not generally in equilibrium, the full benefits of reducing working time will take some time to materialize, but this lag can be shortened by active labor policies. However, there are some controversies about work sharing in the literature [189]. Some mainstream economists question the effectiveness of reducing working time as a tool to create net employment, based, however, on inconclusive empirical evidence.…”

“…An alternative with a long history in the context of the worker movement is the regulation of working time to foster work sharing. This proposal was embraced by the German Greens as a part of their antiproductivist platforms in the 1980s [8] and more recently by degrowth proponents [189]. These proposals should be clearly distinguished from part-time working schemes associated with precarious working conditions.…”