Greece's 6-Day Work Week: Impact on Workers and Economy

Greece introduces a 6-day work week to compensate for population loss, aiming to boost productivity and attract high-paying jobs.

### Greece's Controversial 6-Day Work Week: A Desperate Attempt to Boost Economy
* 🇬🇷  Greece implements a **6-day, 48-hour work week**, becoming the **first EU country** to do so.
* 🏗️  The government hopes to increase productivity by making workers **work longer hours**.
* 💼  This move targets lower-paid sectors like **retail, transport, construction, and hospitality**, while exempting **office jobs**.
* 💰  The law allows for **up to 2 hours of unpaid overtime per day**, potentially becoming the **new norm**.
* 🌍  Greece's aging population and brain drain are cited as reasons for the **new policy**.
* 📊  Despite the government's claims, the move is criticized as **unlikely to attract high-paying jobs or improve overall productivity**.
* 👩‍💼  Workers in many countries, including the US, are already working **significant unpaid overtime**, often through **side hustles**.
* 🌐  The broader trend of increasing work hours raises questions about the **true impact** of policies like the **4-day work week**.

late last month, the Paragon of wise economic decisions, Greece, introduced a 6-day, 48-hour work week. The country did this at the same time as its European neighbors have been successfully experimenting with shorter 4-day work weeks, but the Greek government has insisted that this new change is the key to turning its economy around by simply working harder than everybody else. It's a bold strategy, and for the sake of working conditions everywhere, we better hope it doesn't work. Unfortunately, it just might. Greece has become the first country in the European Union to introduce a Six-Day working week for some businesses. Now, the world's biggest trial of a 4-day working week has ended in success, with the performance of companies largely unharmed and workers feeling healthier and happier. Employer says this is it, take it or leave it, you can't do anything about it. This is Greece. Greece has an aging and shrinking population according to the

country statistics authority. Over 500,000 young 
educated citizens left the country to find work   with better paying conditions elsewhere. It's 
very easy for Greek workers to find jobs that   pay better in other countries because as members 
of the European Union, they are free to reside and   work across borders with very few restrictions. 
In order to correct for this loss of manpower,   the government has decided to introduce a six-day 
work week to make up for all the workers who have   left the country and to support all the elderly 
people who can no longer support themselves. By   raw arithmetic, their logic makes sense. The kind of 
output is the hourly productivity of a worker   multiplied by how many hours they work. If Greece 
has fewer workers, it can increase its output by   getting those who are left to work even longer 
and harder. What they have failed to account for,   though, is that a lot of the productive workers 
still left in the country might decide that   they would rather go and work four days per week in 
Belgium for double the average salary than stick

it out grinding six days a week for half the pay 
in Greece. If your country has a problem with young people leaving to find better work elsewhere, 
the solution is probably not to make work conditions even worse. But their new plan argues 
that by getting on their hashtag grind, they can bring people back by just paying them more. There 
is also an argument that longer hours tend to be the hallmark of highly compensated professions: c-suite executives, medical practitioners, investment bankers, corporate lawyers, and senior tech workers 
all regularly put in long hours, and they are all generally well compensated for that time. These 
professionals are expected to be on call all the time and meet the demands of their clients and 
patients who simply can't wait. Hospitals have been routinely understaffed and have been relying on 
staff working longer overtime to keep operations running. These long hours have been linked to 
unnecessary patient deaths and worker burnout across the country, but doctors and nurses who are 
willing to stay on call for these odd hours can

make an absolute [__] ton of money Investment Banking teams are doing much less important work than medical professionals and they spread their teams even more thin so that fees on transactions only need to be spread between a few overworked team members in my own personal Investment Banking experience even on very large deals we never had a team larger than five people because managing directors knew that the analysts and Associates had to grind it out anyway and why would they share their bonus with more headcount if Greece can become the place where people work harder they should attract these kinds of high-paying jobs right well not really Greece already has high unemployment and anybody who could work in these roles has likely already left to somewhere like London Frankfurt or come here to America for for most jobs there is absolutely no need to be in the office 6 days a week if you work in an office you know that you have a set of

tasks to do, and once they are done, your new task becomes looking busy for the rest of the week. But that's exactly the point. This law isn't really targeting office jobs. In fact, most of them are explicitly excluded from this law. Instead of magically creating high-paying jobs like promised, what this new law is really about is squeezing the most out of workers on the other end of the pay scale. Retail, transport, construction, and hospitality are jobs where companies just need someone behind a counter or on the tools for as many hours of operation as possible to serve customers. Periodically, a large share of what's left of the Greek workforce are in these types of roles, and businesses are already demanding a lot of extra hours from their employees. Greece may have a reputation for a laid-back lifestyle in siestas, but according to data from the OECD, the average Greek actually works a full 80 hours per year more than the average American, and we are already

way above average. The average German, on the other 
hand, works 500 fewer hours every year, and they are   still more than twice as productive as workers in 
Greece. High unemployment has meant that employers   can ask a lot from their employees because finding 
another job is extremely hard, and replacing a   worker that isn't willing to work some unpaid 
overtime is extremely easy. This new 6-day work   week is really being sold as a way to formalize 
what's been going on in workplaces across the   country already. To make matters worse, the wording 
of the law makes it all sound very optional. DW   reports that while the 40-hour work week is still 
officially in place, employers are permitted to   require staff to work up to two unpaid hours 
per day for a limited period in return for more   free time. The problem is that if businesses have 
the option to ask their staff to work 2 hours of   unpaid overtime every day and though staff can't 
say no, then that's just going to be the new normal.

in the same article, an emeritus professor of labor law is quoted as saying Law 5053 2023 will kill off the 5-day work week for good. So, it's probably not as optional as politicians would like workers to believe. Some people may leave, but most of those who can already have better opportunities exist in other EU countries. But a lot of Greeks don't have the resources to move their families across Europe to compete for a job against a local in a country like Germany. This is about squeezing what is left from who is left. Look, I normally try my absolute best to form a rounded argument that represents both sides when addressing stories like this, but this Six-Day work week is just fing dumb. It won't make workers work harder, it won't create high-paying jobs, it won't improve productivity, it will drive away what few young workers the country has left, it will lower hourly wages, and create terrible working conditions for the whole country. It's all around

terrible policy, but unfortunately, it's not just 
grease doing this. So it's time to learn how money   Works to find out why the six-day workweek might 
be catching on everywhere. This week's lesson is   sponsored by DeleteMe. Did you know that your 
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rest. You get regular transparent reports, showing where your data was found and removed. Delete me even offers family plans so you can protect your loved ones' information too. Start protecting your personal data today with Delete Me. Use my link in the description and code HMW for 20% off all US consumer plans. Visit joinme.com/HMW and use code HMW at checkout. It's easy and sometimes even fun to laugh at dumb decisions made by out-of-touch politicians, but the Greek is not just a problem in Greece. Greece is a very expensive country to live in because it's so popular with wealthy tourists who make their money elsewhere, but the minimum wage is only 830 per month according to wageindicator.org. That means the average Greek needs the extra work anyway, whether it's legally mandated or not. But let me make a big bold claim here: wages haven't kept up with living expenses anymore. Crazy, I know, but the way we are dealing with it is

kind of strange. The good news is that the average employee almost everywhere is working fewer hours than we used to in previous generations. According to data from the OECD, annual hours worked per worker have declined significantly since the 1950s. But you would be forgiven for thinking that it doesn't really feel like that, and you would be kind of right. The amount of time workers are spending at work has gone down, but the total number of people has gone up a lot too. Put it simply, what this means is that even though the average individual worker is spending less time on the job, the average household is spending more time working because it's now much less likely that a woman in the household is a stay-at-home parent. Now, women having the ability to enter the workforce in a meaningful way has been positive progress, but it's also now become a necessity. Having a stay-at-home partner, man or woman, is an unaffordable luxury for most households.

America, especially younger workers. This means the average household is dedicating time to more work and household chores are not taken care of by a single person while another person focuses on work. So while these numbers might look like we are moving in the right direction, the reality is a little bit more complicated. You might have also noticed that the number of people in the workforce is actually going down, but that's largely because as a larger share of our population gets older, some of them can retire while still of working age. This was accelerated by a huge drop at the start of the pandemic when a lot of people who were almost ready to retire were laid off and just never went back to work. This is also great - people should be able to retire and enjoy their twilight years, but with an aging population, this also puts more pressure on younger people to pick up the slack. What this means is that there is a bit of a disconnect between what these chart

show and what the average worker will experience, according to a study conducted by ADP research. The average American worker is now doing 9.2 hours of unpaid and often unreported overtime. That is a number suspiciously close to the extra hours that are going to be demanded of Greek workers. The only difference is they were dumb enough to say it out loud. That also doesn't account for the growing number of people working in a full-time role and then doing informal gig work or freelancing on the side. The number of new businesses created in America has exploded in recent years, and while this is normally a sign of a healthy, prospering economy, there might be a little bit more to this data. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, 5.5 million new business applications were filed with them in 2023, an all-time high. But suspiciously, these new business applications were coming from the states with the worst employment problems. People are not really starting businesses.

anymore because they have a great idea and want to capitalize on it. They are starting them to formalize income from informal work like Fiverr, Uber, and yes, even YouTube. According to a bank rate survey, more than one in three Americans now have a side hustle on top of their full-time job, and more than 30% of respondents said they expected to need the extra income their side hustle brings in for the rest of their lives. The number of people doing a side hustle jumps to almost 50% amongst Gen X'ers and is obviously significantly lower amongst Baby Boomers who either just have one job or are retired. Picking up a side hustle in addition to your full-time job can be an amazing way to start a business while maintaining the safety of a stable income. I did it while starting this Channel, and Richard from the Plan Bagel made an amazing video recently about why he still works his full-time job instead of just focusing on his almost 1 million

subscriber YouTube channel. The key difference here is that it was a choice rather than a necessity. Mr. Bagel is probably doing well for himself with his YouTube channel, but that's not your typical side hustle. Ted Rossman, the credit analyst that ran the survey, said that while it's admirable that so many Americans are putting in extra time and effort into their side hustles, it's unfortunate that most are doing so simply to fund their expenses. This is especially troubling since if side hustles are just a way to increase income as opposed to building up a business or monetizing a hobby, then they are mostly a pretty terrible waste of time. Most people with the side hustle who were surveyed were effectively just working another job that paid well below the minimum wage. So, while it looks like the amount of time you spend working has gone down and you might even be lucky enough to live in a place experimenting with a 4-day work week, we haven't filled that extra time with Leisure.

or just getting a good night's sleep. We have split domestic work, taken on second jobs, and side hustles, and just stuck around answering slack messages off the clock. A lot of us are working 6 days a week. Greece was just the only one to admit it. Now I'm going to be writing an article about the countries doing the opposite of Greece and Reporting on how the 4-day work week experience have been going in my completely free email newsletter, so be sure to sign up for that at the link below if you're interested in reading these kinds of Articles. Another big driver of people working all this extra overtime is to just scrape enough together for a down payment on a home, but to find out if real estate is inevitably always going to get more expensive, go and watch my video on how to make houses affordable without destroying the economy to keep on learning how money works.

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Greece Introduces 6-Day Work Week Despite Success of 4-Day Week in Other Countries

Greece has defied the trend of shorter work weeks in Europe by implementing a 6-day work week, aiming to address the loss of workforce and support the elderly population.

However, this decision goes against the success seen in other countries with a 4-day work week, potentially driving more skilled workers away.

The move also raises concerns about the impact on worker well-being and the potential for increased burnout, particularly in highly compensated professions like healthcare.

The Impact of Greece's New 6-Day Work Week

Greece has implemented a new 6-day work week law, targeting workers in retail, transport, construction, and hospitality industries.

The law is designed to squeeze more hours and productivity out of employees, taking advantage of high unemployment rates.

Despite the country's laid-back reputation, the average Greek worker already puts in 80 more hours per year than the average American, and the new law aims to formalize and increase this workload.

The Impact of the Six-Day Work Week in Greece

The proposed law to implement a six-day work week in Greece is expected to have detrimental effects on workers, leading to a potential exodus of young workers and creating poor working conditions.

The policy is driven by the country's high living expenses and low minimum wage, further exacerbating the financial struggles of the average Greek.

A sponsorship message for DeleteMe, a service that removes personal data from online sources, is included in the article.

The Changing Landscape of Work and Household Dynamics

Annual hours worked per worker have decreased since the 1950s, but the total number of people in the workforce has significantly increased.

This has led to a situation where the average household is now spending more time on work and household chores, due to the decreased likelihood of having a stay-at-home parent.

The aging population and the decrease in the number of people in the workforce have resulted in a growing pressure on younger people to support the economy and pick up the slack.

The Changing Landscape of Work: The Rise of Unpaid Overtime and Side Hustles

The average American worker is now doing 9.

2 hours of unpaid overtime, while also engaging in informal gig work or freelancing on the side.

The number of new business applications in the US has reached an all-time high, driven largely by people formalizing income from informal work like Fiverr, Uber, and YouTube.

A significant percentage of Americans, especially Gen X'ers, now have a side hustle in addition to their full-time job, with many expecting to rely on this extra income long-term.

The Reality of Side Hustles and Extra Income

Many Americans are taking on side hustles out of necessity rather than choice, mostly to fund their expenses.

A credit analyst points out that these side hustles are often a waste of time, paying well below minimum wage.

Despite a potential decrease in work hours and the experiment with a 4-day work week, many people are filling their extra time with additional work rather than leisure.