The impact of working time

Working hours have been falling across Europe over a long period of time, initially because of the campaign of social reformers to reduce long hours worked in factories, subsequently as the incidence of part-time work grew. Initially, the campaign to reduce long hours working was based around fatigue: tired workers are less productive ones. More recently the focus has extended beyond the productivity of workers to look at how the organisation of working time might result in a more equitable distribution of work and, then, at how it might improve the quality of working life. With respect to work-life balance there has been an emphasis upon raising the employment opportunities for women and other groups under-represented in the labour market