Expert interview – Tyrolean economist convinced: “Will work shorter”

“crown”: As a scientist, how do you feel about the debate on short-time working?
Andrew Steinmayr: If we look at the long-term data of 150 years, we now work a lot less than we used to. One explanation for this is that we are much more productive. Thanks to progress, more goods and services can be produced in one working hour than at the end of the 19th century or 30 years ago. So we can work the same amount and consume more or consume the same amount and reduce the working time. People want a little bit of both. This trend is therefore not surprising for us economists. What has not yet been fully investigated is whether people now have a stronger preference for more leisure time due to the pandemic. There are only indications that this could be the case. In international comparison, Austria is a country that has a lot of free time on average. This is calculated from the number of public holidays, working hours and when we retire.

The four-day working week in particular is on everyone’s lips. Purely theoretically: if all Tyroleans only work four days, would that be a good thing?
There’s an argument that if we work less, we’ll be a lot more productive, which would offset that. In certain areas I can certainly imagine that. This is certainly not the case in other professions. I can’t make a bus driver more productive by working less. The bottom line is that if we cut labor hours by 20 percent, we probably won’t be able to produce the same amount of goods and services. In addition, due to demographic change, the ratio of older people to young people is increasing, causing the share of the working population to decrease. Two things are intertwined in the discussion. It is always said: four-day work week with full wage compensation. It therefore concerns a reduction in working hours and at the same time an increase in the hourly wage. It is not kept clean.

What are the effects of striving for more “life” and less “work” at the location?
The supply of labor is reduced. Demographic changes make it increasingly difficult to get them from neighboring countries. An alternative is to make Austria more attractive to workers from more distant countries.

What does it take to keep people in full-time employment and get them back there?
A requirement is the expansion of childcare and nursing so that those affected have the opportunity to work full-time at all. We see a low labor participation rate, especially among the elderly. So we have put off a lot of free time to later stages of life.

How do you think Tyroleans will work in 2040?
I think we will eventually get even shorter working hours. Not extremely much shorter, but a little. Many job descriptions will also change radically. We can already see how new technologies are constantly changing our daily work. A lot is going to happen there that will also affect our productivity. This allows us to work less.

The unconditional basic income is also discussed again and again. Do you think it will be introduced one day?
There are many economists who think it is a good idea to use it to ensure a minimum standard of living. Many social benefits would be bundled, bureaucracy saved. I imagine it’s coming and think it’s a good idea, but there will be a lot of discussion about the height.

ÖGB for four-day week
The Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) describes the four-day working week as the “working model of the future”. Long working weeks would lead to health problems for many. With the four-day working week, employees would fall ill less often and burnouts could be prevented. “Less time at work increases quality of life and reduces chronic lack of time for other things.

There is more time for family and friends,” is the second argument. The four-day working week is a win-win for social contacts. According to the ÖGB, 85 percent of commuters travel by car. A four-day working week would save around 250,000 tons of CO2 annually.

WC refuses
“The bill is incorrect,” says the Chamber of Commerce. A reduction in working hours at the same wage would hugely increase labor costs and force companies to lay off less productive workers. Shortening would put more pressure on employees to do the same thing in less time. Last but not least, the already dramatic shortage of skilled workers and workers would get worse are some of the World Cup counterarguments.

By the way: In a survey of 588 respondents by the market institute Linz for the business magazine “trend”, 27 percent would “definitely” and 24 percent “rather yes” would like shorter working hours.