Iowa Governor Touts 4-Day Workweek

By: - December 29, 2009 12:00 am

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D) is touting Utah’s first-in-the-nation move to a four-day workweek for most state employees in the executive branch, and he is pushing the proposal as a way to cut costs in his own state.

“Overall, the Utah experience has been a positive one,” Culver said, according to Radio Iowa . Culver predicted that the four-day week – which was adopted in Utah to cut the state’s energy expenses while saving commuting costs for workers – “will get a lot of support” in Iowa.

Radio Iowa noted that about 60 percent of Utah residents back the four-day week, according to a state-commissioned poll, even though “nearly all” state offices are closed on Fridays. Hawaii and Washington State have tried more limited versions of the four-day week this year, and Virginia and West Virginia also are looking into it, Radio Iowa reported.

As Stateline.org reported in June 2008 , Utah’s four-day week began as a response to soaring gasoline prices. But ongoing fiscal worries could turn the idea into a fixture in Utah and other states that adopt it.

“There’s been enough of a positive impact that I don’t think we’re going to go back to the five-day workweek,” a Utah official told Stateline.org earlier this year.

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Stateline staff
Stateline staff

Stateline’s team of veteran journalists combines original reporting with a roundup of the latest news from sources around the country.

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