Undesirable side effects
Economist does not consider a four-day week advisable
04/05/2023 1:12 p.m
IG Metall wants to call for a four-day week for employees in the steel industry in the next wage round. Economists are skeptical about the proposal. Nevertheless, employers would have to work harder to remain attractive to employees.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) does not consider a general transition to a four-day week in Germany to be advisable. “That typically cannot go well,” said IfW economic chief Stefan Kooths when presenting the institute’s spring forecast in Berlin. This could result in undesirable side effects. “Paradoxically, that would increase productivity because labor would then become drastically more expensive, with the result that less of it would be used and only the more productive workers would remain,” said Kooths.
In the coming years, however, workers are likely to have more leverage in collective bargaining. “Therefore, if in doubt, we will see strong wage increases,” said Kooths. “It’s now up to the companies and unions how they negotiate it – whether it will turn into a four-day week remains to be seen.” Basically, in times of a shortage of skilled workers and demographic change, companies would have to “respond much more to the wishes of the workforce in order to remain attractive as employers”.
IG Metall calls for a four-day week
IG Metall wants to push through a four-day week with full wage compensation in the steel industry. “We want to achieve real relief for employees without them earning less,” said Knut Giesler, head of IG Metall in North Rhine-Westphalia, of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. That would be great progress for quality of life and health.
At the same time, the four-day week would make the steel industry more attractive to young people, who are badly needed in the transition from coal-based heavy industry to green steel in the coming years. At the same time, the four-day week is also a way of preventing the job losses that are to be expected as part of the green transformation of the steel industry.
Negotiations begin in November. Irrespective of the topic of a four-day week, there will also be a wage demand that will only be made shortly before the start of negotiations, said Giesler.