In Spain there is a lot of debate about the total number of hours worked, mostly to clarify the employment data of the last few months. Two coincident realities stimulate this conversation: never before have so many people been employed in the Spanish labor market, 21.27 million according to the latest active population survey; but the total number of hours worked (608 million) is not record high. Compared to the third quarter of 2008, employment increased by 3.5% and hours worked fell by 3.8%. This means that the average working hours of each employee have decreased over the years. But this is not just happening in Spain, according to a recent study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that focuses on European labor markets. Furthermore, he points out that it is clearly men and students who are behind this trend towards fewer hours of work.
“Three years after the coronavirus crisis, employment and total hours have fully recovered, but average hours per worker have not,” state the authors of “Analysis of the decline in average working hours in Europe”, focusing on the comparison with the Focuses on the time before the pandemic, but also looks back. They conclude that this trend is “not cyclical but predominantly structural, extending the trend that preceded the pandemic in the long term” and “it appears unlikely” to reverse in the future.
As the report, based on Eurostat data, shows, total hours worked in Europe are now similar to, and in some cases lower than, 2019, but not the average hours worked per worker, which is slightly below 37 hours per week. This decline in hours worked is preceded by decades in the same direction: “The average working hours in developed economies have shown a long-term downward trend since the 19th century and, for example, fell by around half in Germany between 1870 and 2000.” In a broader sense, the Average working hours in OECD countries fell by about 0.5% each year between the 1870s and the early 2000s.
The decline in average working hours is concentrated in three groups: young people, men in general and men with small children in particular. “For young people, an increase in the number of part-time workers who are also undertaking training could explain the decline. For men overall, including those with small children, the decline affects both full-time and part-time employees. “This finding is surprisingly consistent across all European countries,” says the IMF study. “The reductions in actual hours coincide with the reductions in desired hours,” add the authors (Diva Astinova, Romain Duval, Niels-Jakob H. Hansen, Ben Park, Ippei Shibata and Frederik Toscani), who consider that These cuts are due to the personal preferences of these employee groups.
The analysis shows that men continue to work more hours on average than women (for them, an average of 39.9 hours per week, compared to 34.7 for women), “but this gender gap has narrowed over time, as well like the gender gap in employment.” Rate.” Behind this lies the fact that women still do most of the care, mostly without obligation. In addition, the working hours of women with children have increased slightly. Although in Spain they are less than half of the workforce, they make up 73% of the workforce. 89% of the total part-time workers for care or family responsibilities are women. And of the total without a full day because they couldn't find it, 71%.
Focusing on other population groups, the IMF study also highlights that older workers (55 to 64 years old) and older workers (65 years and older) “saw an increase in their employment share as the effective retirement age increased in most European countries. “, but their average hours also decreased.”
The study also suggests that the reduction in working hours is more pronounced in richer countries than in countries with lower GDP. “These results are consistent with the dominant role of the income effect over the substitution effect in determining the worker's labor supply in the intensive region, as well documented in the literature.” A look at the current data from Eurostat shows this reality: in Serbia they work on average 42.2 hours per week; in the Netherlands 31.1 hours.
Therefore, the report assumes that average hours worked will continue to fall in European countries, at a pace that depends on productivity and wage growth, and “with different speeds across countries according to their economic convergence development”. The higher the productivity and value added of economic activity, the more pronounced declines are to be expected. “In the medium term, most economic forecasts, including those from the IMF, assume modest productivity increases for economies near the technological frontier, particularly in advanced Europe,” so working time reductions would also be “modest,” according to The document. The IMF warns that artificial intelligence or measures to curb global warming will play a key role in the long term.
PSOE and Sumar have committed in their government agreement to shorten the normal working day from the current 40 hours to 38.5 hours in 2024 and to 37.5 hours in 2025. This would see Spain join some European countries that have officially shortened the day, although the 40-hour week remains the most widespread norm.
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