As of: March 27, 2024, 9:13 p.m
By: Max Schäfer
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The chairwoman of the economists Monika Schnitzer contradicts calls for a collective 35-hour week. She sees “no positive effects”.
Munich - The train drivers' union GDL ultimately pushed through its own core demand of a 35-hour week. From 2029, train drivers will have the choice whether they want to work 35 hours or earn more money. This has reopened a debate about fewer working hours. The chairwoman of the Wirtschaftsweise, Monika Schnitzer, doesn't think much of a general 35-hour week.
“I can’t see a positive effect at the moment,” said Schnitzer on Wednesday, March 27, to the
Phoenix
television station . “It is also not to be expected that you can do as much work in 35 hours as in 40 hours.” It depends very much on the profession in which sectors shortened weekly working hours are possible.
Economics sees no positive effect of a 35-hour week: “You can’t accomplish as much as you would otherwise in 40.”
The economy also uses train drivers as an example. “Think of locomotive drivers: they simply have to be on site,” said Schnitzer in the
Phoenix
interview. “And you can’t do as much in 35 hours as you would normally do in 40, because you can’t even be there.”
Economics Monika Schnitzer sees “no positive effects” from a 35-hour week. (Archive photo) © Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The Green labor market expert and former Verdi boss Frank Bsirske, on the other hand, considers a reduction in working hours to be an option for particularly high-stress jobs. “It helps to be able to carry out the activity for longer and in a healthy manner and makes it easier to attract young professionals,” said the member of the Bundestag to the
Tagesspiegel
. “I am convinced that other professional groups such as public transport workers, educators and nurses will follow,” explained left-wing politician Bernd Riexinger after the rail agreement. The Left recently presented a concept for a four-day week.
CDU General Secretary sees 35-hour weeks as a danger: “There is no such thing as prosperity without effort”
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann considers a reduction in working hours to be a threat to the economy and prosperity in the medium term. “There is no such thing as prosperity without effort,” he said on
Welt TV
. What bothers him is that “everyone only thinks about themselves, at the expense of the general public.”
Reinhard Houben, economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, sees it more differently: “You can reduce working hours if you become more productive,” he explained in the
ARD morning magazine
. Where productivity cannot be increased, such a model is difficult.
Foundation sees positive effects of reducing working hours on productivity
However, shorter working hours can have positive effects such as lower absenteeism and higher employee motivation, explained researcher Eike Windscheid-Profeta from the trade union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation. According to analyses, the 35-hour week introduced in the metal and electrical industry in 1996 also had a positive effect on productivity. According to Windscheit-Profeta, neither the tests of the four-day week nor the experiences with reduced working hours in Germany indicate that this is accompanied by a loss of prosperity.
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Oliver Stettes from the employer-oriented German Economic Institute (IW), on the other hand, sees no scope for collective reductions in working hours across the economy as a whole. “For example, in order to make a reduction from 40 to 32 hours per week economically viable, we actually need an increase in productivity of 25 percent per working hour.” He also points to the retirement of the baby boomer generation, as a result of which a significant number of working hours were lost. A collective reduction in working hours would exacerbate the decline.
However, the IW economist also recognizes that it could make sense for individual companies to “offer shorter working hours if this is economically viable and organizationally feasible”. This would allow employers to increase their attractiveness. However, it cannot be said in general terms whether this is expedient or possible. (ms/dpa/afp)