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It is Colombia, where the reduction of the workweek concludes on July 15, 2026, combined with the increase in the minimum wage. Employment is growing and unemployment is low, but business owners report closing stores earlier and investing in automation, and there is still no rigorous impact study.
Colombia, a neighboring country of Brazil, concludes on July 15, 2026, the reduction of the workweek to a maximum of 42 hours, combined with a 23.7% increase in the minimum wage, and even after hiring 787,000 extra workers to cover the reduced hours, it records unemployment at a historic low. The information comes from BBC News Brasil, published by G1, which consulted economists and business entities about the effects of the changes.
The case becomes a mirror for the Brazilian debate. While Brazil discusses reducing its workweek from 44 to 40 hours and ending the 6×1 schedule, Colombia is finalizing a six-hour reduction spread over five years, since the law was approved in 2021. The job market remains heated, but some business owners report closing stores earlier and accelerating automation, in a scenario that still lacks a scientific impact assessment study.
The reduction to 42 hours and the increase in the minimum wage in Colombia
The Colombian change was built in stages and by opposing governments. The reduction of the workweek from 48 to 42 hours was approved in 2021, during the right-wing government of Iván Duque, who led the country from 2018 to 2022, and now concludes on July 15, 2026, at the end of a five-year transition. Colombia, unlike Brazil, did not establish the requirement of at least two days off per week.
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The reduction of hours did not come alone. It was added to the labor reform of 2025, during the left-wing government of Gustavo Petro, which increased the country’s minimum wage by 23.7% and extended the period considered for night shift pay, raising workers’ earnings. In light of the two changes, business entities began to report difficulties in maintaining hiring plans and the need for adaptations, such as closing stores earlier and automating services.
787 thousand hires and unemployment at a historic low
Despite the complaints, the labor market did not collapse. The scenario is far from being a wasteland, according to economist Stefano Farné, director of the Labor Market and Social Security Observatory at Externado University in Bogotá, who participated in discussions about the workweek in the Colombian Congress. For him, the costs per worker have risen, but “there were no negative effects on the labor market,” and private sector salaried employment has been growing for many months.
The hiring numbers help explain the situation. An analysis by Corficolombiana, one of the largest financial corporations in the country, estimates that 787 thousand new workers were hired between 2022 and 2025 just to compensate for the reduction in hours, with unemployment at a historic low. The same analysis notes that productivity has fallen because the same volume of work is now divided among more people, making “the economy less efficient.” Farné cautions that there is not yet a rigorous impact assessment study, and the positive reading is based on the general market perception.
What business owners say: stores closing earlier and automation
On the business side, the tone is more cautious. Fenalco, the national federation of merchants and business owners equivalent to a CNC in Brazil, surveyed 610 business owners in 25 cities to measure the effect of the reduction in working hours and the increase in labor costs. The survey indicates that 51% of companies started closing earlier, reducing nighttime operations, 25% accelerated the automation of services, and 23% raised product prices.
The extended hours sectors were the most affected. Retail, bars, restaurants, hospitality, and private security bear the brunt, and the federation states that 64% of respondents reduced the number of employees and 80% changed future hiring plans, while preliminary data points to fewer companies being opened in 2026. For the entity, “there is an environment of uncertainty that leads business owners to act prudently,” although it assesses that the country maintains a strong entrepreneurial capacity.
Colombian Flexibility and the Differences for Brazil
A significant part of the cushioning came from flexibility in the rules. Unlike the Brazilian proposal, which combines the reduction from 44 to 40 hours with the end of the 6×1 schedule, the Colombian workweek does not require two weekly days off, allows the company and employee to agree to work more on one day and less on another, and lets the employer choose the day off, which no longer needs to be preferably Saturday or Sunday. According to Farné, it was this flexibility that avoided greater effects on the economy.
Colombia also streamlined other obligations. Companies are no longer required to grant an extra day off per semester, known as family day, and larger companies no longer need to offer two weekly hours of cultural or training activities.
In Brazil, the reduction from 44 to 40 hours would take effect in two stages, with 42 hours after 60 days and 40 hours after another year, a timeframe that economist Bruno Ottoni, a professor at Uerj, considers short for companies to adapt.
The Chilean Case and the Lesson of Graduality
Chile is another reference cited in the debate. In the leftist government of Gabriel Boric, a 2023 reform reduced the maximum workweek from 45 to 40 hours, with a transition between 2024 and 2028. Before that, the country had already been internationally studied for another reduction, when in 2005, after four years of transition, it abandoned the 48-hour week for a 45-hour cap.
Studies on the Chilean case indicate contained effects. Research by economist Rafael Sánchez, who followed thousands of workers between 2002 and 2005, concluded that the change did not have significant direct effects on the labor market and that hours became better remunerated, without salary cuts, with companies using the transition to redistribute tasks and avoid mass layoffs.
Generally, empirical studies find small and marginal effects in these reductions, and Farné summarizes that working less is a global trend, but it should be adopted calmly and gradually.
And you, are you in favor of reducing the workweek in Brazil, as Colombia and Chile have done? Do you think the proposed timeframe here is sufficient, or should the transition be more gradual and flexible, like in neighboring countries? Share your opinion and exchange ideas with other readers on the topic, respecting different viewpoints.
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