In Latin America, there are few economies with a workweek of less than 48 hours, unlike Europe and North Asia, where the workweek has been reduced to 40 hours in many countries.
However, several countries in the region have already begun to implement reforms to reduce working hours.
Chile recently joined Ecuador and other Caribbean islands as the country with the shortest workweek in Latin America, with a 40-hour workweek.
In the case of Ecuador, such a cap has been in law since 1997.
The only territory in the region with a shorter workweek than 40 hours is French Guiana, but this is due to its status as an overseas region of France, where legislation sets a cap of 35 hours per week.
These are the countries in the region that have a legal workweek of less than 48 hours:
- Belize – 45 hours
- Guatemala – 44 hours
- El Salvador – 44 hours
- Honduras – 44 hours
- Cuba – 44 hours
- Dominican Republic – 44 hours
- Brazil – 44 hours
- Venezuela – 44 hours
- Colombia – 42 hours
- Chile – 40 hours
- Ecuador – 40 hours
- Trinidad and Tobago – 40 hours
- Bahamas – 40 hours
In Colombia, the transition to the new 42-hour limit began this year, with a gradual reduction from 48 to 47 hours over the next five years.
In the remaining Latin American economies, including Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Argentina, the typical 48-hour workweek will be maintained in labor regulations.
Uruguay is a special case, where there is a double limit of 48 hours for industrial activities but 44 hours for commerce.
In most of these countries, there are efforts to reduce working hours in legislation.
In Mexico alone, the Mexican Congress has collected a dozen reform bills with this goal.
THE KEY TO REDUCING WORKING HOURS
Reducing working hours is not a new issue in the world, nor are regulations such as the gradual reduction currently being implemented in Colombia and Chile, for example.
The International Labor Organization adopted a recommendation on this issue as early as 1962.
Among its main points, the international organization recommends that countries implement it gradually and without reducing wages.
“In Latin America, the legal working week is still mostly 48 hours per week, which shows that there is some room for reduction,” writes Andrés Marinakis in the article ‘Working hours: where do we stand a hundred years after Convention No. 1?’.