Spain will have three weekend days and four working days

Spain became the first European country to perform a cutting test of one working day per week. The initiative was promoted by the progressive More Country party, which declared as a condition “the maintenance of full wages”.

The pilot plan will be developed over three years and to achieve it It will be funded by 50 million euros ($ 59 million) from the European Union’s recovery fund for the coronavirus. In this way, a compensation for around 200 medium-sized companies, during the period of readjustment and reorganization of work processes for a day of 32 hours per week.

The funds will be used to subsidize additional costs to employers during the first year of testing. The second year, it will be limited to 50% and the third, it will only be 25%. “The idea is not that European funds pay for the Spaniards to work less. The idea is that they serve to approve measures that can increase competitiveness and business productivity, which is expected ”, Hector Tejero, a legislator belonging to Más País, pointed out to the regional assembly of Madrid. The argument for the measure is that a longer weekend would generate higher consumption, especially in entertainment and tourism.

The reduction in working time from 40 to 35 hours per week that occurred in 2017 led to significant growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of 1.5% and 560,000 new jobs, according to a study published this year by the journal Cambridge Journal of Economics. Likewise, wages increased in the country by 3.7%, especially among women.

Critics are also aligning themselves against this measure, pointing out that an economy affected by the pandemic “It’s not the best setting for experiments.” Since the start of the pandemic, Spain has suffered intermittent border closures, almost total quarantines and limited international travel, which has severely affected tourism. Other experts point out that the priority in this situation “This should be to solve the dysfunction of the country’s labor market”, which generates one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe and maintains precarious and low-wage jobs.