Do more or less. In the wake of a pandemic that has led to a reduction in the working day to save jobs and the effects on health and better life prospects, several countries – including Ecuador – are discussing changes around work.

The National Assembly is in the process of reforming the Labor Law in which, for example, it is proposed to increase annual vacations from 15 to 30 days, which includes non-working days and leave due to the death of a close relative from 3 to 8 days. Although the technical team of the Commission for the right to work and social security proposed to retain the original text of the labor law, the parliamentary representatives ratified these ideas and the project passed the first debate in the plenary session and returned to the legislative table for the second and final debate.

What would be the consequences of increasing annual vacations for workers in the private sector from 15 to 30 days?

In Ecuador, the working day lasts 40 hours a week, mostly eight hours from Monday to Friday. And the drafting of a proposal for the reform of the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) is underway, for which an Interdisciplinary Commission was established to analyze ways to make the pension system sustainable. The retirement age is the subject of analysis, which means that there are only 5.5 contributors for every retiree, while there should be 8 contributors. Currently, it is necessary to be 60 years old and prove 30 years of contributions to access a pension corresponding to 75% of the average of the five best years of the best salary.

How much can I now receive in retirement from IESS according to my age and the years of paid contributions?

The same dilemma is repeated at the regional and global level. Shorten working hours in neighboring countries and extend them on the other side of the world.

In Mexico, from 2023, all workers will have 12 days of annual leave, twice as much as before the reform that was implemented last December. As they get older, they add more days.

Mexico doubles vacation days for workers who complete a year of work

But it is still one of the countries where workers have fewer vacation days. “Only China and New Guinea give fewer days. They are followed by the United States and Japan with an average of 10 working days. On the other side are countries like France and Finland, where 30 working days of annual leave are approved; The British are also among those who enjoy breaks the most: 28 working days. In Italy it is 26”, he reported Universal Mexico when this reform was discussed.

In Latin America, Cuba, Peru and Panama are the countries with the most vacation days, at 30 days. There are 26 in Brazil, 20 in Uruguay, which increase every four years. In Colombia, Chile, Guatemala and Venezuela, they have an average of 15 days, as in Ecuador. In Argentina it is 14 days, and when the employee reaches five years in the company, they go to 21, and after 10 years of service it is 28.

Now in Mexico, the working day is expected to decrease from six to five days a week. Mexico’s Congress postponed a vote on the constitutional reform on Wednesday, although the Commission on Constitutional Points supported it with a majority of 27 votes in favor, with the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) as the only political force that abstained. However, there was no time in this period for the sessions that ended on April 30, so we would have to wait for the next one, in September, reports the agency. EFE.

Mexico is considered one of the countries in the world where more hours are worked per year, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to their data, Mexicans work 2124 hours a year, more than Costa Rica (1913), Russia (1874) and Japan (1598).

Chile approves 40-hour work week: how much is done in the rest of Latin America?

In Chile, the working day is already shortened which was 45 hours a week. On April 11, the Chilean Congress approved that it should be 40 hours and thus, along with Ecuador, it became the Latin American country with the shortest working week, according to BBC. It will be gradual: one year after implementation, the working day will be reduced to 44 hours per week, after three years it will be 42 hours, and in five years 40 hours, the number of working hours recommended by the International Labor Organization (ILO)”. You can work four days and rest three, and work a maximum of 5 overtime hours per week (previously 12 overtime hours were allowed).

The opposite idea is emerging in South Korea, where the government recently proposed increasing the working day from 52 to 69 hours per week. But the proposal was stopped last March by protests of identified young people of generation Z and the millennials -population between 22 and 40 years old-. According to international media, the OECD considers this country the fifth in which the average number of hours was worked in 2022, with 1,915 hours. The first places would be Chile with 1,916 hours, Colombia with 1,964 hours, Costa Rica with 2,073 hours and Mexico with 2,128 hours.

And at the other extreme are Germany with 1349 hours, Denmark with 1363 hours and Luxembourg with 1382 hours.

The French proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is not going well either. For this May 1, French unions have called for organizing the thirteenth day of mobilization against the pension reform of President Emmanuel Macron, with protests and strikes by carriers that will mean the cancellation of hundreds of flights. 300 protests have been called across the country, which are expected to be very numerous. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 650,000 people will take to the streets.