40 hours
By Claudia Sanhueza
On July 24, the idea of legislating the project modifying the Labour Code to reduce the maximum work week from 45 to 40 hours was approved in the Labor Commission in congress. Although it is not unusual for more conservative sectors to oppose this measure (both in Chile and in other countries), there are good reasons to positively evaluate this measure.
Historical trends show that since the nineteenth century working hours have declined steadily (see Huberman & Minns, 2007 in Our World in Data). Full-time workers in the countries included in the study work 20 or even 30 hours less every week compared to the 19th century.
On the other hand, Chile is above the average regardingcountries with similar GDP per capita in their average annual working hours per person employed (Feenstra et al, 2015). Additionally, recent studies have assesed the effects of these reductions. Raposo & Van Ours (2008) for Portugal, in 1996, in a reduction of 44 to 40 hours found no negative effects on wages or employment of the affected workers. Kawaguchi et.al. (2008) for Japan 1987-1997, in a reduction of 48 to 40 hours, found that it reduces the actual hours worked, but does not reduce the effective remuneration. Sánchez (2013) for Chile, when reducing from 48 to 45 hours, finds that there are no negative effects on employment and that the policy instead increases the hourly wage. Askenazy (2008) in France 1997-2007, for a reduction to 35 hours per week, points out that these laws did not produce a miracle (which the defenders expected) or an apocalypse (as their enemies warned), at least in the short term. An interesting case is a pilot project in Sweden in 2015-17 that reduced week hours to 30 in a public residence for the elderly in Svartedalen. It showed a reduction in staff stress and therefore in public spending on health and unemployment insurance. In fact, it is pointed out in the literature that the effects of these changes in health, air pollution and gender gaps in the distribution of unpaid work within the home should also be explored.
Finally, there are those who see a “radical and pragmatic proposal” in the reduction of the working day to face future trends in the labor market such as automation (Autonomy UK research center). The think-tank “Social Market Foundation” (non-partisan group of experts that believes in fair markets) has developed a proposal of four days of work per week.
In short, all this indicates that the proposal to reduce the maximum working day may not only be relevant, given our level of development, but may eventually be very positive to face certain future challenges.
Original source: La Tercera (in spanish).
