Persuading Europeans to work more hours misses the point - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
欧洲经济

Persuading Europeans to work more hours misses the point

Shrinking workforce would be better tackled by helping those who don’t want a job to work a little, research suggests
00:00

{"text":[[{"start":9.05,"text":"Europeans are spending less time at work, and governments would like them to get back to the grindstone. "},{"start":14.392,"text":"That is the thrust of measures German, Dutch and British ministers have been examining to persuade part-timers to take on more hours, and full-timers to embrace overtime. "}],[{"start":24.1,"text":"But the evidence suggests it will be an uphill battle — and that authorities worrying about a shrinking workforce would do better to help people who might otherwise not want a job at all to work a little. "}],[{"start":33.38,"text":"Rising prosperity is the main reason the working week has shortened over time, as higher productivity and wages have allowed people to afford more leisure. "},{"start":41.384,"text":"In Germany, for example, it has roughly halved between 1870 and 2000. "},{"start":46.577,"text":"Across the OECD, people are working about 50 fewer hours each year on average than in 2010, at 1,752. "}],[{"start":55.49,"text":"Average hours have fallen more in recent years because the mix of people in employment has changed, with more young people studying, more mothers working, older people phasing their retirement and flexible service sector jobs replacing roles in the long-hours manufacturing industry. "}],[{"start":70.4,"text":"The latest post-pandemic drop in European working hours is more of a puzzle. "},{"start":75.01700000000001,"text":"The European Central Bank estimated that at the end of 2023, Eurozone employees were on average working five hours less per quarter than before 2020 — equivalent to the loss of 2mn full-time workers. "}],[{"start":86.61000000000001,"text":"There has been a similar shift in the UK, where average weekly hours are 20 minutes shorter than in 2019 at the end of 2022. "},{"start":93.97700000000002,"text":"The Office for National Statistics says this was driven by lower full-time hours among prime-age men and was equivalent to having 310,000 fewer people in employment. "}],[{"start":103.80000000000001,"text":"The trend appears to be a European one — there has been no such recent change seen in the US, which simply laid people off during the pandemic rather than putting them on furlough. "}],[{"start":113.27000000000001,"text":"One explanation is that employers have been “hoarding” labour — keeping staff on in slack periods while cutting hours, because they are worried they will not be able to hire easily when demand picks up. "},{"start":122.98700000000001,"text":"The ECB thinks this has been a factor, along with a rise in sick leave and rapid growth in public sector jobs. "}],[{"start":130.07000000000002,"text":"But Megan Greene, a BoE policymaker, said earlier this month that while there was some evidence of labour hoarding, it was also “plausible that . . . workers may just want a better work-life balance”. "}],[{"start":140.93,"text":"Researchers at the IMF who examined the puzzle reached a similar conclusion. "},{"start":145.372,"text":"They said the post-Covid drop in working hours was in fact an extension of the long-term trend seen over the past 20 years, which reflected workers’ preferences — with young people and fathers of young children driving the decline. "},{"start":156.739,"text":"The biggest change was in countries where incomes were catching up with richer neighbours. "}],[{"start":161.99,"text":"Some economists, however, believe the experience of lockdowns has made people more willing to trade pay for a less pressured lifestyle, and more able to walk away from jobs with antisocial hours. "}],[{"start":172.68,"text":"“A lot of people started to pay more attention to their health,” said one Frankfurt-based economist, noting that Germany, with one of the sharpest drops in working hours, suffered from high rates of depression and other mental health conditions, along with the UK. "}],[{"start":186.77,"text":"Spain has traditionally been at the other extreme. "},{"start":189.899,"text":"It has some of the longest working hours in Europe — combined with a long lunch break that means many employees cannot clock off till late in the evening, with family life, leisure and sleep patterns all suffering as a result. "}],[{"start":202.16000000000003,"text":"But even here, habits are changing. "},{"start":204.85200000000003,"text":"Ignacio de la Torre, chief economist at Madrid-based investment bank Arcano Partners, thinks Spanish bars and restaurants have struggled to fill vacancies since the pandemic because former waiters have begun training for better jobs. "}],[{"start":217.20000000000002,"text":"In many countries, unions have made shorter hours a focus of collective bargaining, and some employers are experimenting with offering four-day weeks — or more flexible working patterns — as a way of attracting staff. "}],[{"start":229.25000000000003,"text":"The shift in habits is a challenge for European policymakers. "},{"start":233.01700000000002,"text":"Since productivity growth has been weak, they fear that shorter hours will exacerbate labour shortages, fuel inflationary pressures, hold back growth and make it harder to fund welfare systems. "}],[{"start":244.04000000000002,"text":"Unless productivity growth improves, de la Torre argues, the only way to boost economic growth is to bring more people into the workforce, embrace immigration or work longer. "},{"start":253.49400000000003,"text":"It is unrealistic to earn the same while working less: the outcome would be “a lower salary at the end of the month”. "}],[{"start":260.18,"text":"But Anna Ginès i Fabrellas, director of the Labor Studies Institute at the Esade law school, cites evidence that young people are willing to accept this trade-off, valuing free time “when they assess the quality of a job”. "}],[{"start":272.45,"text":"Some policymakers think shorter hours and greater wellbeing should be the goal. "},{"start":276.892,"text":"Spain’s minister of labour, Yolanda Díaz, caused uproar earlier this year by suggesting restaurants should no longer open into the small hours, and the governing coalition has pledged gradual cuts to the legal maximum working week. "}],[{"start":289.88,"text":"The IMF’s researchers made a more pragmatic argument. "}],[{"start":294.02,"text":"Governments can and should do more to help people who want longer hours, they said, including supporting retraining, job-hunting and childcare, as well as promoting flexible work and removing perverse incentives in tax and benefit systems. "}],[{"start":306.7,"text":"This will have only a small effect, the IMF estimates. "},{"start":310.217,"text":"Some policies will simply “reshuffle hours” between mothers and fathers. "},{"start":314.134,"text":"But in general, most people will want to work slightly less provided their living standards advance. "},{"start":319.202,"text":"That means there’s a limit to what policymakers can do. "}],[{"start":323.24,"text":"A more realistic goal, the IMF reckons, is to raise the total number of hours worked across the economy, not least through better parental leave policies that could bring more people into work in the first place. "},{"start":334.282,"text":"Recent trends in the EU are promising: participation in the workforce has risen since 2020. "}],[{"start":340.72,"text":"This feels like the better approach. "},{"start":343.012,"text":"If employers offer better part-time and flexible roles, people who might otherwise stay outside the labour force entirely might at least work a little — and be happier for it. "},{"start":351.617,"text":"That would be more productive for governments than pushing against the tide. "}],[{"start":355.09000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftacademy.cn/album/156542-1716888333.mp3"}

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

加沙能否考验特朗普对内塔尼亚胡支持的极限?

面对加沙悲惨的饥饿景象和部分基本盘的不安,特朗普的支持有所动摇。

博茨瓦纳能接管钻石巨头戴比尔斯吗?

钻石改变了这个非洲国家的命运,但它真的能从英美资源集团手中收购戴比尔斯吗?

Lex专栏:165亿美元特斯拉合同不足以推动三星复苏

只有追赶上竞争对手的技术并赢回更多大型客户,三星才能重回正轨。

摩根大通计划对消费者数据访问收费,引发金融科技企业警觉

金融初创公司表示,如果要付费获取消费者财务信息,他们的商业模式将无以为继。
2天前

特朗普冻结出口管制以确保与中国达成贸易协议

知情人士透露,负责出口管制的美国商务部工业与安全局最近几个月被告知要避免对中国采取强硬措施。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×