A much shorter working week would lead to a fairer economy

Too often during the recession there has been a crude assumption that if people could only find more work they would be better off. However, the New Economic Foundation’s (NEF) most recent book Time On Our Side presents the case that a shorter, more flexible working week would be good for the economy and for civic society.

We must be careful in having such discussions not to belittle those for whom shorter hours would mean abject poverty. Yet we should be clear that the solution to this issue is wage reform and not working hours. We should not see people forced to choose between an 80 hour week and feeding their families.

We must begin to consider how to address the blunt fact that many people find their work life balance to be deeply unsatisfying. This has been a neglected concept in the stark rhetoric of recession economics but it is a dialogue Labour must adopt if it is to relate to working people’s ambitions and desires.

People need time to be mothers and fathers, friends and citizens. It is our social relationships that hold our society together. People want to better their communities and invest in their family life, but many simply don’t have the time to do this. Indeed, if the Conservatives want to see a ‘’Big Society’’ they could do far worse than to reduce the working week.

The report notes that disparities between rich and poor are now being realised in terms of time inequality. Indeed, Anna Coote head of social policy at the NEF, understands the significance of this: ‘’we all know time is money but it is also much more than that’’

Though there is also a strong economic argument for change. Were the average UK working week to shorten from 40 to 30 hours as the report considers, we would reduce sick leave and absenteeism but also bolster the Treasury. Redistributing working hours so that more people were working for less time would create more jobs and reduce unemployment. Succinctly this would reduce welfare payments and increase the amount of people paying tax. More importantly though, people would glean all the well documented benefits of self-esteem and civic duty that come with holding a job.

Doubtless many will quietly perceive those who call for a shorter working week as naïve. Yet there is precedent for such legislation. The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Germany, all have considerably shorter average hours than the UK. Their economies are amongst the most robust in Europe. Both Belgium and the Netherlands enshrine in law the right to request shorter working hours, within agreed parameters as well as making it unlawful to discriminate against those who do work shorter hours.

This said, the NEF would see us go further. They make two central proposals beyond adoption of the aforementioned Dutch and Belgian legislation. Firstly, they suggest encouraging employers to offer time off instead of a pay rise when rewarding productivity. This will work better for some kinds of employment than for others.

More interesting then, is their second proposal to introduce shorter hours at both ends of the age scale. At one end, young people could be offered a 4 day week (or its equivalent in hours) at the start of their careers. This would ease the transition into full time employment and foster a healthier and more positive attitude towards work.

Equally, older workers would be given the opportunity to gradually reduce their working hours, ultimately helping them to stay in employment for longer. These are the kind of proposals that need to be taken seriously in the face of a rapidly ageing population that will be required to work later into life.

Though the issue is surely larger than working hours. We have a political rhetoric that often fails to pay anything more than lip service to the intangible things that give our lives meaning. If we are serious about One Nation Labour then we must engage with this new dialogue to which people can relate.