Labor market in the Corona crisis: The four-day week is still a long way off

The Corona crisis makes many companies think: What to do when demand drops and there is less to do? IG Metall can imagine a four-day working week in order to secure as many jobs as possible. Not necessary, says labor market researcher Enzo Weber.

Only work four days left, but a long weekend every week. What sounds tempting and in some hip startups in Berlin-Mitte have long been standard, can now also imagine the powerful workers' union IG Metall. In order to master the structural change and to cushion the consequences of the Corona crisis for the employees. They could then keep their job.

Also Enzo Weber thinks this is a possibility. The professor for empirical economic research at the University of Regensburg and the head of the research department "Forecasts and Macroeconomic Analyzes" at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg sees a big catch in the four-day week: "The bottom line is that everyone must be aware that correspondingly less income is earned ", he says in the ntv podcast" something learned again ". In principle, it is true that excessively long working hours reduce productivity and too much work can also make you sick, but "that is not the case with a normal 39-hour week for most people".

More flexibility instead of four days a week

The car industry, which was massively shaken by the Corona crisis, is still making headway in terms of four-day week. For example, automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen has negotiated a collective agreement with IG Metall that makes it possible to reduce weekly working hours by 20 percent, i.e. one day per week. In return, ZF has agreed to forego operational layoffs and site closures in Germany until 2022. "In principle, a four-day week can be implemented. We once had a six-day week, which then turned into a five-day week. In the end, that is a social decision," says Weber.

Can be implemented, but does not make sense across industries. For the labor market researcher, the decisive ingredient to get out of the corona lows with swing is more flexibility. "We shouldn't let the crisis, digitization or anything else determine our working hours. A four-day week makes sense precisely when the employee wants it to be."

And if the employee accepts that they get less money for their work. Many proponents of the four-day week may be hoping to simply work one day less without having to cut corners financially. From Enzo Weber's point of view, this is "obviously not realistic", because a full wage compensation for a four-day week would require 25 percent more hourly wages. "Of course it would be nicer if we could pay much higher wages. But we would have been able to do that before, if it were so easy to do".

Wage adjustment "not realistic"

IG Metall calls for at least partial wage compensation. The model is Volkswagen. When tens of thousands of jobs were on the verge in the 1990s, working hours at the car manufacturer were cut by 20 percent, but at the same time wages only fell by 10 percent. This may be possible at times with very large companies, but nationwide companies cannot afford to do this financially in the crisis, not paying much less for less work. And in the long term, the amount of work will not decrease at all, despite the current recession and challenges such as digitization, Weber emphasizes. This is because the number of workers will continue to decline due to demographic change and a shortage of skilled workers. According to "Labor market forecast 2030 "by the Federal Ministry of Labor by a further 1.4 million to 39.2 million.

Not the four-day week, but rather the instrument of short-time work is the right means during the Corona crisis, says Enzo Weber. "That is what all of our research results at the institute show." And flexibility: "So far we have separated full-time and part-time quite a bit, hardly anyone switches back and forth. But we need that much more. Satisfaction with working hours essentially comes from being able to decide on working hours yourself and not necessarily from of shortness or length. "

And such flexible working hours could also have advantages for companies if they use the offer as an argument in the battle for skilled workers. In the long run, only an attractive employer can secure its competitiveness.

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