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Employment and Length of the Working Week in a Unionized Economy in which Hours of Work Influence Productivity

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  • ALISON BOOTH
  • MARTIN RAVALLION

Abstract

Conditions are derived for signing the employment effects in a unionized economy of a legislated cut in hours when productivity depends on the number of hours worked each week. Aggregate data suggest that employment will generally increase after a small cut in hours for the UK but the employment effect is ambiguous for Australia. Disaggregated data for Australia suggest that the employment effect of a cut in hours is often positive However, any cut in hours imposed on a monopoly union, without a cut in pay, will unambiguously lead to a drop in employment

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  • Alison Booth & Martin Ravallion, 1993. "Employment and Length of the Working Week in a Unionized Economy in which Hours of Work Influence Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 69(4), pages 428-436, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:69:y:1993:i:4:p:428-436
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.1993.tb02124.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Jorge González Chapela, 2018. "Physical Work Intensity and the Split Workday: Theory and Evidence from Spain," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 329-353, September.
    2. Jennifer Hunt, 1996. "The Response of Wages and Actual Hours Worked to the Reduction of Standard Hours in Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 138, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Rocheteau, Guillaume, 2002. "Working time regulation in a search economy with worker moral hazard," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 387-425, June.
    4. Jennifer Hunt, 1998. "Hours Reductions as Work-Sharing," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 29(1), pages 339-381.
    5. Alison Booth & Margi Wood, 2004. "Back-to-front Down-under? Part-time/Full-time Wage Differentials in Australia," CEPR Discussion Papers 482, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    6. Lonnie Golden & Stuart Glosser, 2013. "Work sharing as a potential policy tool for creating more and better employment: A review of the evidence," Chapters, in: Jon C. Messenger & Naj Ghosheh (ed.), Work Sharing during the Great Recession, chapter 7, pages 203-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Goerke, Laszlo & Hillesheim, Inga, 2013. "Relative consumption, working time, and trade unions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 170-179.
    8. Jean‐François Fagnart & Marc Germain & Bruno Van der Linden, 2023. "Working time reduction and employment in a finite world," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(1), pages 170-207, January.
    9. Joan Rodgers & Iris Day, 2015. "The premium for part-time work in Australia," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(3), pages 281-305.
    10. Kapteyn, Arie & Kalwij, Adriaan & Zaidi, Asghar, 2004. "The myth of worksharing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 293-313, June.
    11. Goerke, Laszlo, 1997. "Taxes in an efficiency wage economy," Discussion Papers, Series II 335, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    12. Wehke, Sven, 2009. "Union wages, hours of work and the effectiveness of partial coordination agreements," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 89-96, January.
    13. Jennifer Hunt, 1999. "Has Work-Sharing Worked in Germany?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 117-148.
    14. Antonio García Sánchez & María del Mar Vázquez Méndez, 2005. "The timing of work in a general equilibrium model with shiftwork," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 29(1), pages 149-179, January.
    15. Fuest, Clemens & Huber, Bernd, 2000. "Is tax progression really good for employment? A model with endogenous hours of work," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 79-93, January.
    16. Regt E de, 1999. "Wage Bargaining, Working Time and Unemployment," Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    17. Robert Dixon & John Freebairn, 2009. "Models of Labour Services and Estimates of Australian Productivity," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(2), pages 131-142, June.
    18. Alison Booth & Margi Wood, 2006. "Back-to-front Down-under? Estimating the Part-time/Full-time Wage Differential over the Period 2001-2003," CEPR Discussion Papers 525, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    19. Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2001. "The effects of working time reductions on wages, actual hours and equilibrium unemployment," Working Paper Series 2001:8, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    20. Jennifer Hunt, 1996. "The Response of Wages and Actual Hours Worked to the Reductions of Standard Hours," NBER Working Papers 5716, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Chun-chieh Huang & Ching-chong Lai & Juin-jen Chang, 2004. "Working Hours Reduction and Endogenous Growth," IEAS Working Paper : academic research 04-A006, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
    22. de Regt, E.R., 1999. "Wage bargaining, working time and unemployment," Research Memorandum 027, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    23. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    24. Robert Dixon & John Freebairn, 2007. "Hours of Work: A Demand Perspective," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1022, The University of Melbourne.
    25. E. Dominguez & M. Ullibarri & I. Zabaleta, 2011. "Reduction of working hours as a policy of work sharing in the face of an economic crisis," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(7), pages 683-686.

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