Commentary: Five reasons why the four-day week won’t work

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Commentary: Five reasons why the four-day week won’t work
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Does the idea of a four-day work week sound enticing? There are less risky ways to improve working conditions, says this professor.

2. THE TRUTH ABOUT HAPPINESS

The hedonic treadmill explains why many retirees go back to work or why lottery winners continue in their jobs. Or why, in the case of France, many workers got second jobs or moved to smaller firms. It is also why, at the very least, we would need to pilot the four-day workweek over longer periods than six months.

A four-day working week may worsen inequities at work. Ireland and the UK already suffer from “hollowed-out” and polarised labour markets, which is to say that the proportion of middle-ranking jobs to lower-ranking jobs has been falling over decades. Part-time jobs are, however, associated with “low pay and temporary contracts”. A surge in part-time employment would therefore lead to reduced earnings overall.

Today, unemployment in the UK is 3.7 per cent, the lowest in more than 20 years. In Ireland it is 4.7 per cent, while long-term unemployment is a negligible 1.2 per cent. As the Irish Times recently said: “There are loads of job vacancies in Ireland, but where are the workers?”, it would be strange to reduce the labour supply by cutting everyone’s working hours .

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