Switzerland is leading the way
IW boss: “We have to work more again”
7/18/2023 2:29 am
Many employees long to work less and flirt with the four-day week. IW boss Hüther describes this as an unrealistic dream. Rather, the Germans would have to do more again. In his view, seeking salvation in more immigration alone is not a solution either.
The director of the German Economic Institute (IW), Michael Hüther, calls for longer working hours to combat the shortage of skilled workers. “We have to work more again – like Switzerland is doing,” said the IW boss of the “Rheinische Post”. There, but also in Sweden, a full-time employee would work almost 300 hours more per year than in Germany, Hüther continued.
“We need an increase in individual working hours per year, not the unrealistic dream of a four-day week. This can go through weekly working hours or other holiday arrangements, and in times of greater autonomy in working hours and work location, this is definitely communicable,” said the director of the employer-oriented organization institute.
Hüther, on the other hand, rejects the proposal by SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil to abolish marriage splitting. “The debate is old hat. We have to leave it up to the couples to decide how they want to share their family income,” said the IW boss.
Hüther does not expect any effects on the labor market if it is abolished. “Spousal splitting does not prevent women from working. Women then take full-time jobs when early childhood care is better developed,” said the economist.
“In 2023 there will already be a shortage of 4.2 billion working hours”
Hüther expects upheavals in the economy if the shortage of skilled workers is not remedied. “We have to make better use of the employment potential in order to make the transition to a climate-neutral economy with a smaller population. Without the increase in working hours, growth rates of 0.5 to 0.75 percent would be possible at best in the next few years. And inflation would be over years are three to three and a half percent.”
Hüther considers calls for one to one and a half million people to immigrate to Germany to be exaggerated. “One million immigrants are too many and would drive up the integration costs enormously,” said the IW boss. According to Hüther, in order to bring 200,000 net workers into the country each year, 800,000 gross immigrants would come into the country.
“By 2023 we will already be missing around 4.2 billion working hours a year. We will not get them with immigration,” the economist continued. Hüther: “In all the countries around us, in the OECD, in the northern hemisphere, there are the same problems, everyone is suffering from a shortage of workers.”