Macroeconomic Effects of Shorter Working Hours in Austria

The project estimates the sectoral and macroeconomic effects of shorter working hours in Austria. The starting point of the analysis is a (hypothetical) scenario in which working hours of employees are adjusted by means of collective bargaining and company regulations in such a way that they correspond to their individual preferences. The change in the sectoral and macroeconomic average working time is calculated from microdata (labour force survey) under the assumption that all employees reduce or increase their working time to the preferred level. This is then the starting point for estimating the sectoral and macroeconomic effects.