More work instead of less
IW boss suggests abolishing public holidays
26.05.2024, 10:50 a.m.
Top economist Michael Hüther is convinced that Germans need to work more hours overall. This could be achieved, for example, by having fewer public holidays. Feminist Teresa Bücker, on the other hand, is calling for fathers to do more care work.
Michael Hüther, head of the German Economic Institute (IW), warns against shorter working hours in Germany. “We should not be talking about working less, but more,” he told “Spiegel”. “Here in Germany, due to the ageing of society, there will be a shortage of around 4.2 billion working hours by the end of the decade, even if I assume that 200,000 workers will immigrate annually.”
Hüther referred to Switzerland, where – based on all employed people – people work 100 hours more per year than in Germany. That corresponds to two hours per week. “As an economist, I am only interested in the total number,” said the economist. “As far as I’m concerned, vacation can be arranged differently or a few public holidays can be canceled.” He referred to the Day of Repentance and Prayer, which was abolished in 1995 to finance nursing care insurance. “A higher volume of work is possible if you want it,” he said.
Hüther made her comments during a debate with feminist Teresa Bücker. The author spoke out in favor of a “redistribution” of working hours. “We need to equalize working hours between men and women in order to make progress in terms of equality,” she said.
Teresa Bücker: Redefining full-time
The employment patterns of men and fathers have hardly changed over the decades, and they mostly work full-time, said Bücker. “The predominant employment model for parents is this: the man works full-time, the woman works part-time.” The double full-time share of couples is relatively low, and you would have to look hard to find couples with double part-time work. “There are hardly any so-called modern fathers. We can only change that if we define a shorter full-time norm.”
According to the Federal Statistical Office’s time use study, the average weekly working hours of mothers are even slightly higher than those of fathers. “There is simply no scope for mothers to increase their time at work. That is the basic problem,” said Bücker. Women could only increase their working hours at work if men took on more family responsibilities. “A short full-time norm makes it possible to distribute paid work and care work fairly and could ultimately even increase the annual workload,” said Bücker.
Hüther: Four-day week causes distribution conflicts
The participants also disagreed about the consequences of the four-day week. “When it comes to the four-day week, people usually think that they themselves will only work four days, but everything else around them can stay as it is and their daycare center will continue to offer its services for five days. Of course, that doesn’t work,” said Hüther. “If we make the four-day week the overall economic maxim, we will create more new problems than we solve old ones, especially distribution conflicts.”
Bücker said: “We know from surveys in the care and daycare sectors that a four-day week would motivate employees who have left the profession and are now working in a different field to come back.”