Will Greeks Work Six Days a Week?

The Guardian reports that the next bailout of Greece may require residents to work six days a week. That is unlikely to go down well with Greeks and likely will cause more unrest and riots. Those actions will lower productivity, which in turn will undermine gross domestic product. The paper reports:

Greece’s eurozone creditors are demanding that the government in Athens introduce a six-day working week as part of the stiff terms for the country’s second bailout.

The demand is contained in a leaked letter from the “troika” of the country’s lenders, the European commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund. In the letter, the officials policing Greece’s compliance with the austerity package imposed in return for the bailout insist on radical labour market reforms, from minimum wages to overtime limits to flexible working hours, that are likely to worsen the standoff between the government and organised labour in Greece.

How hard Greeks will work each of those days is an open question.

Douglas A. McIntyre