Calendar for 2026 is a “phantom debate”, according to a renowned German economist. And the following year? What about productivity?
If a year is ending, it’s because another is beginning. If you’re starting another one, you’re already looking at the new year’s calendar.
Around here, the usual things are going on about when holidays are due, when to take a mini-vacation, bridges, long weekends.
In Germany, in 2026, there are five holidays – bringing together national and regional – which will be at a Saturday or to one domingo. And that’s a problem for some. In different contexts.
Politicians from the Left Party and the Greens think these circumstances are unfair: require a compensatory holiday on a working day. Remember that this is what is done in other countries.
The CDU does not agree. The responsible Gitta Conneman said in the newspaper that a holiday represents a loss of 8.6 billion euros in productionin Germany.
But Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research, thinks there are more important things to deal with.
“I think this is a ghost debate“, said the economist.
Marcel Fratzscher is also against the opposite idea, which has already been discussed, of ending national holidays.
A priority is another: “The most important thing is improve quality of work, that is, productivity, so that people are more productive for every hour worked.”
For the specialist, this discussion about there being more or less national holidays is “counterproductive”.
Using other percentages, Marcel Fratzscher explained that the elimination of national holidays would lead to an increase of approximately 0.3% in economic production in 2026, since people will be working more.
But, in the following years, when holidays return to working days, the opposite effect will occur; a variation of around 0.3 percentage points or 0.4 percentage points.
“This isn’t much. Surely this won’t solve the current ones in Germany”, summarized the economist.
Fratzscher, on the other hand, defended more investments from the Government, but also contributions from companies – which need to invest more in their employees to improve productivity. “The quality of work has to improve”, he reinforced.
