Mongolian employees get weekend off

Workers in Mongolia are enjoying their first full weekend off since the Communist revolution of 1921, with the introduction of a new five-day working week.

Employees previously had to work forty-six hours a week, with six of those hours on Saturday, but the working week is now down to forty hours.

The government says the change is aimed at bringing Mongolia into line with international practice, improving industrial efficiency and creating more jobs.

Workers have welcomed the extra free time, but there have been warnings that some will turn increasingly to drink -- one of Mongolia's biggest social problems.

The nomadic herders who make up forty per cent of the Mongolian workforce won't be affected by the change.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service