Chapter 3: Longer Working Hours - the Beginning of a new Trend?

This chapter reviews working time developments in Western Europe. The main issue is whether recent agreements on longer working time (at unchanged pay) in Germany represent a reversal of the earlier trend towards shorter working time that could also spread to other Western European countries with low working hours, such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The chapter views the agreements on longer working hours in Germany as a response to credible employer threats of outsourcing jobs. Increases in working time will certainly raise output, but they are also likely to increase the number of jobs, especially in the long run.