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The Macroeconomics of Work Time

Author

Listed:
  • Barry Bluestone
  • Stephen Rose

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate that because of stagnating wages and rising job insecurity, there has been a change in the labor supply regime in the U.S. macroeconomy since the 1970s. There is now greater labor supply at any given officially measured unemployment rate. This induced growth in the quantity of labor effort is coming from experienced, incumbent workers and therefore does not show up in the official unemployment rate. While this may diminish family and community life, the increased aggregate labor supply means rising aggregate demand is being absorbed even at unemployment rates of less than 5 percent without sparking inflationary pressures. Because of this upward structural trend in weekly hours, monetary policy authorities must now recognize that standard jobless measures have become a misleading gauge of available labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry Bluestone & Stephen Rose, 1998. "The Macroeconomics of Work Time," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(4), pages 425-441.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:56:y:1998:i:4:p:425-441
    DOI: 10.1080/00346769800000043
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    Cited by:

    1. Lukács, Bence & Antal, Miklós, 2023. "The practical feasibility of working time reduction: Do we have sufficient data?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    2. Stuart Glosser & Lonnie Golden, 2005. "Is labour becoming more or less flexible? Changing dynamic behaviour and asymmetries of labour input in US manufacturing," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 535-557, July.
    3. Phillip Anthony O'Hara, 2003. "Deep Recession and Financial Instability or a New Long Wave of Economic Growth for U.S. Capitalism? A Regulation School Approach," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 18-43, March.
    4. Lonnie Golden, 2009. "A Brief History of Long Work Time and the Contemporary Sources of Overwork," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(2), pages 217-227, January.
    5. Alameddine, Mohamad & Otterbach, Steffen & Rafii, Bayan & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2018. "Work hour constraints in the German nursing workforce: A quarter of a century in review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1101-1108.
    6. Steffen Otterbach, 2010. "Mismatches Between Actual and Preferred Work Time: Empirical Evidence of Hours Constraints in 21 Countries," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 143-161, June.
    7. repec:aia:aiaswp:rr15 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Nadia Steiber, 2008. ""How Many Hours Would you Want to Work a Week?": Job Quality and the Omitted Variables Bias in Labour Supply Models," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 121, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    9. Cem Baslevent, 2014. "The Work-Life Conflict and Well-Being of Turkish Employees," Working Papers 827, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2014.
    10. Cem Başlevent & Hasan Kirmanoğlu, 2014. "The Impact of Deviations from Desired Hours of Work on the Life Satisfaction of Employees," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 33-43, August.

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