On July 1, Greece introduced a six-day work week for some categories of employees, namely those working for private businesses that provide 24/7 services. The new legislation seeks to boost productivity to support a growing number of pensioners as the country faces an aging, shrinking population.

The median age of the population in Greece increased from 41 to 44 years between 2010 and 2020, according to a 2022 report prepared by the Greek government. In Canada, for comparison, the median age of the population increased from 37 to 40 between 2000 and 2011, where it has stayed for the last decade.

From 2002 to 2020, Greece’s old-age dependency ratio (the proportion of people aged 65 to those aged 15-64) increased substantially from 26 to 35 per cent. Unlike in Canada, which has seen its population grow, Greece’s population has decreased by more than half a million (about six per cent of the population) over the last decade.

Other countries are also experiencing aging populations, including Canada. This demographic shift requires the working population to produce more goods and services per employee to support those who do not work.

Forcing the young to work harder, however, is not the solution. Canada must not follow the example of Greece.

The Greek government’s prominent justification for the six-day work week law is to increase productivity. The devil in the detail is that they use the more convenient — but inaccurate — definition of productivity as output per worker.

Productivity is a measure of efficiency in production. Some........

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