It was Chancellor Friedrich Merz who opened the debate on working hours at a reception at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the eastern city of Halle on 14 January. When asked which law he would abolish immediately if he had the opportunity, Merz replied without hesitation that it would be the law on working hours. “It is not with a better work-life balance or a four-day week that our economy will be able to grow further,” explained Merz, who is campaigning for a general increase in working hours, particularly to address the shortage of skilled labour. Without going into detail, the chancellor expressed the view that the social partners within companies and the signatories to collective agreements were perfectly capable of regulating everything that the legislator did not need to regulate.
As a Berlin correspondent for the French and Swiss press since the late 1990s, I cover a wide range of economic, political and social issues, with a particular focus on the German business and labour market. My areas of interest include co-determination, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.