Friday is the New Saturday

Friday is the New Saturday makes a compelling, provocative and timely case for societal change. Drawing on an eclectic range of economic theory, history and data, Dr Pedro Gomes argues that a four-day working week will bring about a powerful economic renewal for the benefit of all society. It will stimulate demand, productivity, innovation and wages, whilst reducing unemployment and crushing populist movements. The arguments come from both the left and right of the political spectrum to show that a polarised society can still find common ground.In the 1800s, people in the West worked six days each week, resting on Sundays. In the 1900s, firms began to give workers Saturdays off as well, realising that a two-day weekend helped the economy. In the 2000s, Friday will become the new Saturday, and we will never look back.

Rooting his arguments in the writings of the greatest economists is a brilliant … device: not only does it confer the seal of scholarship to Gomes’ work, but it also shows that one does not need to be a leftist to see the economic case for the four-day working week., In the 20th century, the five-day working week replaced the six-day week … Pedro Gomes’ book provides considerable food for thought about moving to the next stage.

Pedro Gomes is Reader in Economics at Birkbeck, University of London. He studied for his BSC in Economics in his home town of Lisbon and received his PhD from LSE in 2010. A leading researcher on public sector employment his work has influenced policy makers globally. He lives in London.