Maturity and Future of the Four-Day Work Week

This chapter examines trends in labor productivity and hours worked in Spain and the United Kingdom between 2020 and 2024, using data from the OECD Productivity Base. Key indicators such as gross value added per hour worked, hourly compensation, and average hours worked per person are analyzed. The study reveals that Spain and the United Kingdom showed increases in hours worked without significant improvements in productivity, suggesting a traditional relationship between working time and economic performance. In addition to the quantitative analysis, the chapter includes semi-structured interviews with labor experts from Spain and the United Kingdom. These interviews provide a qualitative perspective on the challenges and opportunities faced by both countries in implementing labor reforms. In Spain, experts highlight the role of unions and the institutional framework in the progressive reduction of working hours. In the United Kingdom, corporate experimentation and a lack of political consensus are emphasized as barriers to structural reform. The chapter concludes that innovative labor market policies, such as those implemented in Portugal, can improve productivity without increasing workload, and proposes a reflection on the future of work in Europe in a context of social and technological transformation. Therefore, as a future line of research, we propose extending this study to countries like Portugal and other European Union countries with similar results in order to extrapolate policies currently in place to reorganize work.