Swedish Social Democratic Party proposal: 35-hour working week

A working group set up by the Social Democrats has concluded that the party should actively promote a reduction in the working week from 40 to 35 hours..

– We believe that this will also improve health and encourage people to work longer, says Annika Strandhäll (S).

According to Strandhäll, the Swedish government wants to “prove that a reduced full-time workload is both possible and positive for society” and the idea is to launch a research project in which 5,000 Swedish workers will be studied when they work 35 hours a week for a year – mainly in the welfare sector. The aim is then to introduce a 35-hour working week in “all of society” by 2035.

– It is a natural step when you look at how to create a more sustainable working life. We believe this is something that Swedish workers want, Strandhäll continued in an interview with Swedish public broadcaster SVT, arguing that the economic costs may not be as great as critics claim.

– Studies of the reductions in working hours that have been made show that there is a positive social effect rather than a large cost. The horror figures that have been raised in the Swedish debate, talking about hundreds of billions – there is no empirical evidence to support that.

“Losing revenue of €21 billion”

Johan Pehrson of the Liberals is not impressed with the proposal, saying it is both unrealistic and will cost hundreds of billions of kronor.

“If you work less, you get less done. There is no way around that. More needs to be done to make it easier for families to balance work and leisure, but the Social Democrats’ proposal risks having the opposite effect … The Social Democrats’ proposal means that we would lose SEK 250 billion (€21 billion) in tax revenue. That’s more than the entire judicial system and defense costs put together“, he writes in a commentary.

The employers’ organization Svenskt näringsliv, which represents private companies, also opposes a reduction in working hours and believes that such a reduction would lead to an 8.1% drop in Sweden’s GDP.

Today, about 80 percent of white-collar workers and 74 percent of blue-collar workers work 40 hours a week, the broadcaster reports, and in 1973 a law was introduced to limit the regular working hours of a full-time employee with the same employer.