Working time policy in Germany: searching for new ways

In: Transfer: the European review of labour and research ; quarterly review of the European Trade Union Institute, Volume 4, Issue 4, p. 621-640

Abstract

This contribution looks back over the process of working time reduction since the mid-eighties. It emerges from an examination of developments that the gradual reductions in collectively agreed working time have made a significant contribution to the preservation and creation of jobs and that they have been, moreover, compatible with economic growth. The second part of the article examines how the process of working time reduction, currently not much in favour, can be revived. Strategic variations on this theme are public incentives to shorter working time, such as those experimented with in France, or the use of shorter working time for further training purposes.