'21-hour week could solve range of problems'

Working a 21-hour week would address a whole range of economic, social and environmental problems, according to a think tank which is organising an event to debate this on Wednesday.

The New Economics Foundation's event builds on its 21 Hours report which talks about the need to move towards much shorter, more flexible paid working hours - sharing out jobs and unpaid time more fairly across the population. This would address the jobs crisis, the issue of parents not feeling they have time to see their children and the environmental consequences of commuting. 

The London event will include a panel of leading experts and will be held in partnership with the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at the London School of Economics. Speakers are:

Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College, and author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, and The Overworked American.

- Lord Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick and biographer of J. M. Keynes, and Dr Edward Skidelsky, University of Exeter. Both are co-authors of the forthcoming book, How Much is Enough? Economics and the Good Life which argues the economic case for more job sharing and for Government to regulate a maximum working week.

- Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development at Surrey University, and author of Prosperity without Growth.