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Does Sweden Really Have a Six Hour Day?

Can you reduce working hours without affecting productivity?

There have been reports that those radical Swedes have decided to reduce the working day to just six hours because, it has been claimed, productivity does not suffer. Before you all rush to the Swedish job pages this is not quite the case – but there have been trials in Sweden to test whether you can shorten people’s working hours without having an effect on output. Tim Harford talks to our Swedish correspondent Keith Moore about what the trials have found. He also speaks to professor John Pencavel, Emeritus Professor of Economics, at Stanford University, and finds that reducing working hours may not be as radical idea as it first appears.

(Photo: A business man carries a black briefcase)

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9 minutes

Last on

Mon 2 Jan 2017 07:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 30 Dec 2016 19:50GMT
  • Fri 30 Dec 2016 20:50GMT
  • Fri 30 Dec 2016 21:50GMT
  • Mon 2 Jan 2017 02:50GMT
  • Mon 2 Jan 2017 03:50GMT
  • Mon 2 Jan 2017 04:50GMT
  • Mon 2 Jan 2017 05:50GMT
  • Mon 2 Jan 2017 07:50GMT

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