Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34807 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3723
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
December 1, 1996 Portugal introduced a new law on working hours which gradually reduced the standard workweek from 44 hours to 40 hours. We study how this mandatory working hours reduction affected employment and earnings of workers involved. We find for workers who were affected by the new law that working hours decreased, while hourly wages increased, keeping monthly earnings approximately constant. We also find that the working hours reduction did not lead to an increased job loss of workers directly affected. Finally, we find that workers who themselves were not directly affected were influenced by the working hours reduction indirectly. If they worked in a firm with many workers working more than 40 hours before the change in law was introduced.
Subjects: 
Workweek reduction
policy reform
employment dynamics
earnings
JEL: 
J22
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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