Can you qualify for a four-day work week? According to a report from the Wall Street Journal a handful of small towns and community colleges are switching to four-day workweeks in an effort to help employees cope with the rising gasoline prices, and could soon be joined by some larger local governments.

Gas Prices and the Four-Day Work Week: Can You Qualify?

It makes sense for weary motorists, especially those that have to drive many miles to their workplace. Doing the math, some are spending over $30 a day just to drive back and forth to work. Some governments are proposing for their employees a four-day, 10-hour workweek that would remain in place for "the foreseeable" future.


According to the Journal report "Michigan's Oakland County and New York’s Suffolk County are both considering putting public employees on four-day workweeks. In Oklahoma, a resolution has been introduced in the state house of representatives recommending all state and local public employers move to a shortened week to provide relief from the cost of commuting."

Many private employees are poised to use these new proposals to push their employers to allow them the four-day work week as well. And if it is possible it seems logical, at least for the workers that drive many miles to their jib each day. A $30 a week savings in gas would deliver over a $1500 savings each year on gasoline costs alone.