Cutting Hours, Creating Jobs: Understanding the 35-Hour Work Week in Sweden
(2025) EOSK12 20251Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- This thesis examines the impact on national employment levels in Sweden of reducing the standard workweek from 40 to 35 hours, using 2015 as the analytical baseline. Through rigorous analysis of employment data, productivity metrics, wage effects, unionization rates, and capital substitution patterns, the research employs sectoral comparisons to identify differential effects across the Swedish economy. The findings demonstrate that a shortened workweek would have a positive effect on national employment levels. Notably, employment growth was most pronounced in sectors characterized by high labor dependency, strong union presence, and rising hourly productivity. Conversely, sectors susceptible to automation, with limited union... (More)
- This thesis examines the impact on national employment levels in Sweden of reducing the standard workweek from 40 to 35 hours, using 2015 as the analytical baseline. Through rigorous analysis of employment data, productivity metrics, wage effects, unionization rates, and capital substitution patterns, the research employs sectoral comparisons to identify differential effects across the Swedish economy. The findings demonstrate that a shortened workweek would have a positive effect on national employment levels. Notably, employment growth was most pronounced in sectors characterized by high labor dependency, strong union presence, and rising hourly productivity. Conversely, sectors susceptible to automation, with limited union representation, and experiencing declining hourly productivity showed minimal job creation or employment contraction. This research contributes to the scholarly discourse on working time reduction policies and their employment implications, offering timely insights as political and social momentum for a 35-hour workweek builds across Sweden. The sectoral analysis framework developed here provides a methodological foundation for evaluating similar labor policy proposals in comparable economies. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9194361
- author
- Griffin, Waverly LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EOSK12 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9194361
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-16 11:41:35
- date last changed
- 2025-06-16 11:41:35
@misc{9194361,
abstract = {{This thesis examines the impact on national employment levels in Sweden of reducing the standard workweek from 40 to 35 hours, using 2015 as the analytical baseline. Through rigorous analysis of employment data, productivity metrics, wage effects, unionization rates, and capital substitution patterns, the research employs sectoral comparisons to identify differential effects across the Swedish economy. The findings demonstrate that a shortened workweek would have a positive effect on national employment levels. Notably, employment growth was most pronounced in sectors characterized by high labor dependency, strong union presence, and rising hourly productivity. Conversely, sectors susceptible to automation, with limited union representation, and experiencing declining hourly productivity showed minimal job creation or employment contraction. This research contributes to the scholarly discourse on working time reduction policies and their employment implications, offering timely insights as political and social momentum for a 35-hour workweek builds across Sweden. The sectoral analysis framework developed here provides a methodological foundation for evaluating similar labor policy proposals in comparable economies.}},
author = {{Griffin, Waverly}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Cutting Hours, Creating Jobs: Understanding the 35-Hour Work Week in Sweden}},
year = {{2025}},
}