The additional hours should of course be remunerated, says Michael Hüther. In this way, the “demographically caused loss of work volume could be compensated for”.

In the discussion about long-term declining income from pension insurance, the economic researcher Michael Hüther spoke out in favor of a 42-hour week as standard working time.

In contrast, the director of the employer-oriented Institute of German Economics (IW) considers the increase in the retirement age, which is usually discussed as a means of balancing the pension insurance system, to be politically difficult to implement, as he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

“It takes the 42-hour week. The hours are of course paid – it’s not about cutting wages through the back door,” he explained. In Switzerland, two hours more are worked per week than in Germany, and in Sweden one hour more. “If you add that up, you would compensate for the demographically caused loss of work volume by 2030.”