Colombia completes reduction in working hours to 42 hours a week and maintains unemployment at a historic low

South American countries, including Colombia, have advanced legislation to reduce working hours, a movement that contrasts with ongoing discussions in Brazil regarding the working hours of its employees.

From July 15th, the maximum working hours for salaried employees in Colombia will be 42 hours per week, the result of a gradual transition that has reduced six hours since the law was approved in 2021.

Unlike the Brazilian proposal, which includes a reduction from 44 to 40 hours per week and the end of the 6×1 scale, Colombian legislation did not impose the requirement of at least two days of rest per week for workers.

This reduction in working hours, initially from 48 to 42 hours, was approved during the administration of former president Iván Duque (2018-2022) and complemented by a labor reform in 2025, under the government of Gustavo Petro, which raised the minimum wage by 23.7% and increased the nighttime bonus.

The combination of these changes has generated challenges for Colombian business entities, which report difficulties in maintaining hiring plans and the need for adaptations, such as the early closing of stores and the increase in service automation.

However, the outlook for the country’s job market is not deteriorating, according to an analysis by economist Stefano Farné, who directs the Labor Market and Social Security Observatory at Externado University, in Bogotá.

“Ainda que os custos unitários por trabalhador na Colômbia tenham crescido, não se verificaram impactos adversos no mercado de trabalho”, explica Farné, que acompanhou os debates no Congresso colombiano. He highlights that salaried employment in the private sector has maintained continuous growth for several months.

Although there are no formal “impact assessment” studies with robust scientific methodologies, Farné’s perception is based on the resilience of the Colombian labor market, which has an unemployment rate at historically low levels.

An analysis by Corficolombiana, one of the largest financial institutions in the country, indicates that the reduction in working hours stimulated hiring, with an estimated 787 thousand new jobs created between 2022 and 2025 to compensate for the shorter working hours.

However, Corficolombiana observes a drop in productivity, as the same volume of tasks is now distributed among more individuals. The company argues that, if more workers are needed for the same production and each one earns less per shift, the economy loses efficiency.

Fenalco, a federation that represents traders and businesspeople in Colombia and similar to the Brazilian National Confederation of Commerce (CNC), carried out a survey with 610 businesspeople in 25 cities to measure the impact of increased labor costs.

Os resultados mostram que 51% das empresas passaram a encerrar suas atividades mais cedo, diminuindo as operações noturnas; 25% intensified service automation; and 23% raised the prices of their products.

The sectors that feel the effects most are those with long opening hours, such as retail, food and beverage establishments, hotels and private security.

“There is an increase in operating costs for many companies, which limits expansion and new hiring. Furthermore, uncertainty makes businesspeople act with greater caution,” said Fenalco.

The same federation points out that 64% of businesspeople consulted reduced their workforce, while 80% adjusted their future hiring plans.

Although there is no consolidated annual data on company closures, Fenalco indicates that preliminary figures for 2026 suggest a “reduction in the opening of new companies”.

“Despite the challenges, Colombia maintains its remarkable entrepreneurial capacity”, adds the federation.

Aspects that distinguish the Colombian approach and the Brazilian reality

For professor Stefano Farné, the comparison between the Colombian and Brazilian cases is complex, given that the reduction in working hours in Colombia was integrated with other changes in labor legislation. No entanto, ele destaca que lições globais podem ser aplicadas.

The first relevant point is gradualness, exemplified by the five years of adaptation in Colombia. “It is advisable to implement changes progressively, and not abruptly”, says the researcher.

In the Brazilian context, the proposal to reduce working hours from 44 to 40 hours per week envisages two phases: an initial reduction to 42 hours in 60 days, followed by reaching the limit of 40 hours after another year.

According to economist Bruno Ottoni, professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), the transition period stipulated for Brazilian companies is insufficient for adequate adaptation.

Farné also points out that Colombia implemented reduced working hours with greater flexibility in schedules and without the obligation of two days of rest, a crucial aspect that allowed companies to adapt more smoothly and avoided severe economic impacts.

Colombian legislation allows employers and employees to negotiate the distribution of hours, allowing longer working hours on some days and shorter working hours on others, as necessary.

Additionally, the new Colombian law grants the employer the prerogative to define the worker’s weekly day off, removing the preference for Saturdays or Sundays.

This change is seen as beneficial for the commercial sector, one of the most impacted. “This flexibility in working hours is vital and helped to mitigate the negative effects on the economy, as the reduction in hours is compensated by other measures”, argues Farné.

Colombian companies were also exempt from granting an extra half-yearly day off, known as “family day”, and larger companies no longer need to offer two hours a week for cultural or training activities.

Chile’s experience with reduced working hours

In Chile, the government of Gabriel Boric, on the left, obtained the approval of a labor reform in 2023 that established, among other measures, the reduction of the maximum working hours from 45 to 40 hours per week. Implementation began in 2024 and will extend until 2028.

However, before this recent legislation, Chile was already an international reference for another reduction in working hours: in 2005, after four years of transition, the maximum working hours increased from 48 to 45 hours per week.

“Generally, empirical studies indicate that the impacts of these reductions were minimal and marginal, that is, the negative effects are small and not always statistically relevant”, comments Farné, who collaborates in debates on the subject at the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The research by Chilean economist Rafael Sanchéz also concluded that the reduction in working hours in the 2000s did not generate “significant direct effects” on the Chilean labor market, either in the creation or elimination of jobs, and resulted in better remuneration per hour worked, without salary cuts.

Sanchéz monitored the careers of thousands of professionals between 2002 and 2005, a period that covers before and after the reform, comparing those directly impacted by the new law with a group of workers whose working hours were already close to the new limit.

According to Sanchéz, Chilean companies took advantage of the transition time to readapt their production methods and reorganize tasks, a factor considered essential to avoid large-scale layoffs.

In short, Chilean companies assimilated the increase in cost per hour worked without making significant cuts in the number of employees.

The cases observed in the Americas and in several nations, mainly in Europe, indicate that “the reduction in working hours is an irreversible global trend”, according to Ferné.

“This does not mean that South America should immediately adopt the 36-hour workdays practiced in European countries. Caution is needed, but this is a global movement”, he concludes.