Spain Is Trying to Shrink Its Workweek

Spanish ministers on Tuesday moved to advance a proposal that would see the country's legal working week cut to 37.5 hours, down from 40, with no adjustment made to salaries. "This proposal is about living better, working less, and being much more productive and more efficient economically," said Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz. She leads the hard-left party Sumar, and as Reuters reports, getting the measure through parliament isn't a sure thing. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's center-left government doesn't have a clear majority and must cater to the demands of a number of smaller parties to get the votes it needs.

The center-right Catalan separatist party Junts has indicated it's opposed to the proposal, and the chief lobby for employers, CEOE, has been vocal with its displeasure with imposing the change by law rather than through collective bargaining. As CEOE leader Antonio Garamendi put it, "The corporate world is in favor of dialogue, but not in favor of monologue." Euro Weekly News reports that if adopted, Diaz's plan would have the time change kick in immediately, rather than gradually, as initially proposed. It would also ban employers from contacting workers outside of those 37.5 hours.

AFP reports the hours adjustment would impact roughly 12 million workers, including those in the retail, hospitality, and agriculture industries. Public-sector employees and many large companies already have a 37.5-hour workweek in place. As for who actually works the most and least across the globe, the International Labour Organization collects stats on the average hours worked per week per employed person. As of January 2024, here were the top and bottom 10, with the figure in parentheses indicating the percentage of working people who log more than 49 hours a week:

1. Vanuatu, 24.7 hours (4%)
2. Kiribati, 27.3 hours (10%)
3. Federated States of Micronesia, 30.4 hours (2%)
4. Rwanda, 30.4 hours (12%)
5. Somalia, 31.4 hours (10%)
6. Netherlands, 31.6 hours (6%)
7. Iraq, 31.7 hours (5%)
8. Wallis and Futuna islands, 31.8 hours (6%)
9. Ethiopia, 31.9 hours (15%)
10. Canada, 32.1 hours (9%)

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1. Bhutan, 54.4 hours (61%)
2. United Arab Emirates, 50.9 hours, (39%)
3. Lesotho, 50.4 hours (36%)
4. Congo, 48.6 hours (45%)
5. Qatar, 48 hours (29%)
6. Liberia, 47.7 hours (27%)
7. Mauritania, 47.6 hours (46%)
8. Lebanon, 47.6 hours (38%)
9. Mongolia, 47.3 hours (33%)
10. Jordan, 47 hours (34%)

The United States clocks in at 38 hours, with 13% of workers logging more than 49 hours a week. (More Spain stories.)