Working Time Reductions in the Austrian Press from 2020 to 2025: Assessing the Relationship between Media Discourse, Scientific Evidence and Sustainability Transitions

Abstract

Reductions of paid standard weekly working time (WTR) have gained increasing attention in recent years and constitute an important topic within ecological economics, degrowth, and post-growth debates. Despite growing interest, media debates regarding WTR are underresearched. This study addresses this gap by conducting a content analysis of all commentary pieces on WTR published in nine Austrian daily newspapers between 2020 and 2025. Findings are situated within the existing literature on WTR discourses in the media. Moreover, media claims regarding the effects of WTR are compared with results from the scientific literature, including systematic literature reviews and meta-regression analyses. Results show that a majority of comments presents a negative stance towards WTR, with some variation between newspapers. The discourse is primarily focused on the economic impacts of WTR, while social effects receive comparatively less, and ecological outcomes almost no attention. The results also suggest that the relationship between media claims and research is uneven. While some of the arguments that receive limited coverage are addressed in a substantial body of literature, others receive considerable media attention while being less covered by existing research.

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Kontakt

• Quirin DAMMERER
  E-​Mail: quirin.dammerer@wu.ac.at