Boulin, Jean-Yves

Working time is a recurrent topic of study because the nature of work, its content, the conditions under which it is performed and the labour market itself keep changing. This report provides an overview of the recent evolution of working time duration and organisation in the EU and highlights the most important trends and differences between Member States.

A summary of the main findings of comparative research undertaken in five European countries published in the journal BEST No. 1/99. The research aimed to highlight the reasons for and extent of urban time policies in Europe during recent years, as well as identifying and analysing innovative cases involving the synchronisation of various time policies.

Profound socio-economic, demographic and cultural changes currently under way in Europe are modifying the way in which people organise their time and income over the life course. The ageing population, globalisation, the transition from a standard working organisation model to more diversified and individualised structures and changes in the gender division of labour – these are all shifting the boundaries between people’s work and personal lives. At the same time, changes in the timing of entry into and exit from the labour market have considerably reduced the time devoted to paid work.

This report, tackling 25 years of work by the Foundation on time and time related issues, represents an innovative attempt to draw together and consolidate the body of work carried out by the Foundation on this subject. In taking the large range of work on time as the main subject of analysis, the report provides some context to the influence of such work at a European and national level. Significantly, it underlines how the study of time issues can provide crucial insights into how best to address the challenges of the European social policy agenda and examines to what extent this has been achieved.

The first issue of the new BEST reports on Foundation research into urban time policies in five Member States which identified and analysed innovative cases involving the synchronisation of various time policies (working hours, school time and shop opening hours). The study highlights the case of Italy, the only European country to have adopted a consistent approach to time policies, and shows how there is a growing awareness in all countries to find new ways of organising modern life in order to improve the quality of life for city-dwellers BEST presents important developments in the field of time. It is addressed to those developing policies in this field working in the Institutions of the European Commission, national governments and the social partners in the European Union. BEST is published twice a year in English, French and German.