I'm dutch and this is definitely not some stipulated requirement. Mandatory 40 hr jobs do exist. (Edit! A commenter above me shows that apparently it's difficul

I'm dutch and this is definitely not some stipulated requirement. Mandatory 40 hr jobs do exist. (Edit! A commenter above me shows that apparently it's difficult for employers to disallow requests for shorter workweeks, so take what i say with a grain of salt. All i know is that i often come across job openings for 40hr/wk contracts only) That said, taxation and society as a whole is structured such that it doesn't always make sense to work 5 days. Like the author mentions, in a certain tax bracket you effectively lose 10% of your income to go from a 5 day to a 4 day work week. Then, if you have kids, getting daycare reduces the benefits of working full time even further. To wit: I spend ~€1250/month after tax cuts on putting two kids into daycare, for 2 days. That exceeds my mortgage. Earn more? Less tax cuts. Work longer hours? Be prepared to fork over even more money.