Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe
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 o...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Sustainability
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131086 |
| _version_ | 1826213484777439232 |
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| author | Kallis, Giorgos Kalush, Michael O'Flynn, Jack Rossiter, Jack Ashford, Nicholas |
| author_facet | Kallis, Giorgos Kalush, Michael O'Flynn, Jack Rossiter, Jack Ashford, Nicholas |
| author_sort | Kallis, Giorgos |
| collection | MIT |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:49:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/131086 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:49:57Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Sustainability |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1310862021-07-15T03:03:15Z Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe Kallis, Giorgos Kalush, Michael O'Flynn, Jack Rossiter, Jack Ashford, Nicholas 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. 2021-07-14T16:38:39Z 2021-07-14T16:38:39Z 2013 Article https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131086 Kallis, G.; Kalush, M.; O.'Flynn, H.; Rossiter, J.; Ashford, N. “Friday off”: Reducing Working Hours in Europe. Sustainability 2013, 5, 1545-1567. https://doi.org/10.3390/su5041545 en_US Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ application/pdf Sustainability |
| spellingShingle | Kallis, Giorgos Kalush, Michael O'Flynn, Jack Rossiter, Jack Ashford, Nicholas Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe |
| title | Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe |
| title_full | Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe |
| title_fullStr | Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe |
| title_short | Friday off’: Reducing Working hours in Europe |
| title_sort | friday off reducing working hours in europe |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131086 |
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