The gradual implementation of the 40-hour work day in Chile will be one of the milestones of Gabriel Boric’s government. The measure, despite being resisted by business associations, is a trend that had already begun in Europe in the 1990s and that currently there are countries that have opted to reduce it to 35 hours or work only 4 days a week. .
From another perspective, within the Latin American region, implementation in Chile continues to be at the forefront of other Latin American countries that have not yet made concrete progress in the application of this reduction.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which Chile is a member along with 37 other countries, is one of the parameters regarding the implementation of 40 working hours, since, on average, Chile was one of the states which, within the block, averaged more hours of work.
Chile and the OECD countries
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which Chile is a member along with 37 other countries, is one of the parameters regarding the implementation of 40 working hours, since, on average, Chile was one of the states which, within the block, averaged more hours of work.
In this understanding, 25 of the 38 countries have already implemented 40-hour days: Austria, Canada, Estonia, Slovenia, Spain, United States (depends on the State), Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway , New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Sweden.
Likewise, specifically, the countries that have implemented work days of less than 40 hours are: Germany, Australia, Denmark, France and the Netherlands.
On the other hand, in the range of countries that work 41 to 45 hours a week, there are Israel, Switzerland and Turkey.
It should be noted that these days do not contemplate the maximum working day, where each worker and employer can negotiate, for example, overtime or make their own working hours more flexible.
Chile in the Latin American region
Chile, along with Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic work in the weekly workday range of 41 to 45 hours. While in the range of 46 to 48 hours per week there are Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
In this understanding, 25 of the 38 countries have already implemented 40-hour days: Austria, Canada, Estonia, Slovenia, Spain, United States (depends on the State), Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway , New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Sweden.
Ecuador and Venezuela are the only countries in the region that have established the weekly working day at 40 hours.
Graduality and comparative evidence
According to comparative evidence collected by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and presented to the Senate Finance Commission, eight countries were analyzed that reformed working hours with a significant reduction and with gradual mechanisms or agreements between the parties.
In chronological order, Portugal implemented the reduction in 1996 motivated by converging with the weekly average of hours established by the OECD of 37.5 in 1995. This, while the European trend of the time that sought reduction as a tool to create new jobs and reduce unemployment.
The measure was implemented gradually and was reduced from 44 to 40 hours in the span of two years, thus, by 1997 the reduction had already been implemented.
Finland was another of the countries that also implemented the reduction of working hours in 1996. Unlike Portugal, the measure was implemented through a job sharing mechanism (work-sharing) to face unemployment in the country.
In this way, the working day established the limit of 40 to 30 hours per week per worker who went from working eight hours a day for five days to working six hours a day for five days.
Chile, along with Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic work in the weekly workday range of 41 to 45 hours. While in the range of 46 to 48 hours per week there are Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
The study also includes Canada, a country that implemented its day in 1997 for the province of Quebec under a local law. The objective was also to stimulate employment through work-sharing and from 1997 to 2000 the working day was reduced by one hour, going from 44 to 40 hours.
However, as the measure sought to stimulate work, the measure was only implemented to employees who were paid by the hour and were not covered by a union contract. but without restriction to maintain the monthly salary.
In 1998 it was the turn of the United Kingdom. The measure was implemented in response to the demand for regulation by the European Union. This, because the case is particularly special, strictly speaking, before the reform they did not have regulation, since the maximum hours that could be worked in the week lay in the collective or individual agreements between workers and employers.
Specifically, the law sought to implement a maximum of 48 hours of work per week, in addition to establishing the obligation to have the right to vacation for three or four weeks.
Another special case is that of Denmark, as workers averaged 37 hours of weekly work with the possibility of flexibility. In fact, when the European Union directives sought its application, in Danish territory they had no effect other than establishing a limit. of working hours of work in 48 hours. Strictly speaking, the agreement for 2006 was set at 37 hours.
South Korea is also one of the countries that implemented the 40 hours. The measure began to be applied in 2004, but had a previous reduction in 1999 when the working day was reduced to 44 hours in the first instance. It was first implemented in companies with more than a thousand employees and then gradually extended to smaller companies.
The document also cites one of the most recent examples of reduced working hours, Iceland. The working day was reduced from 40 to 36 hours, in some cases reaching 32 hours per week for workers with irregular shifts in the public sector.
