Chinese Province Mulls 2.5 day Weekend for Workers

Chinese Province Mulls 2.5 day Weekend for Workers
Jan 15, 2019 By eChinacities.com

Does your weekend go way too quickly? Maybe you should move to Hebei, where the provincial government is considering giving workers a two-and-a-half day weekend.

 

Authorities in the northern Chinese province have published a directive on their website suggesting that employers give workers Friday afternoon, as well as Saturday and Sunday, off. It is hoped the move to allow employees to work more flexible hours and take leave outside of the national public holidays would drive consumption.

Some have welcomed the suggestion, including the state-run People's Daily newspaper, which commented, “One cannot work well if he does not know how to rest well. Whether encouraging off-peak holidays or flexible working hours, or the 2½-day weekend, they [employers] should follow public opinion and ultimately provide for better work.”

However, other commentators on Chinese social media have said such a move would only benefit government workers, as half a day less access to government services would unfairly impact on the most vulnerable in Chinese society. Government agencies should ensure they provide better efficiency, for example working rotating weekend shifts, before they give workers more time off, they said.

Others pointed out that many Chinese companies don’t even guarantee two days off at the weekend or the legal amount of public holidays, calling the suggested measures unrealistic. In China, the statutory working week is 40-44 hours long, but many work untold (and often unpaid) hours in overtime.

Last week Beijing announced plans to incentivize consumers to buy more big ticket items as the national economy suffers under the tightening trade war with the US.

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Keywords: 2.5 day weekend

4 Comments

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Mulesky77

That's nice, at least to cool off for the week.

Dec 14, 2019 03:15 Report Abuse

r_russ

this is not good

Aug 25, 2019 08:37 Report Abuse

ambivalentmace

Consumers can't spend if they have no time to go spending. Glad someone finally figured that out, amazing critical thinking skills, only took a generation to get the fact drilled into the brain. Slow progress is better than none at all.

Jan 15, 2019 16:33 Report Abuse

biggj123

People can buy everything on their phone on their smoke break or in their living room watching tv and have it brought right to their door. And having an extra afternoon wont change much in terms of spending. It will be more troublesome for public services and government services like DMV and so on on friday afternoon for some people. Restaurants and things like that might get a slight boost. it good for the extra free time though to spend as you will. Its good for that.

Jan 16, 2019 14:15 Report Abuse