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Are the French Happy with the 35-Hour Workweek?

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Author Info
Marcello M. Estevão
Filipa Sa

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Abstract

Legally mandated reductions in the workweek can be either a constraint on individuals' choice or a tool to coordinate individuals' preferences for lower work hours. We confront these two hypotheses by studying the consequences of the workweek reduction in France from 39 to 35 hours, which was first applied to large firms in 2000. Using the timing difference by firm size to set up a quasi-experiment and data from the French labor force survey, we show that the law constrained the choice of a significant number of individuals: dual-job holdings increased, some workers in large firms went to small firms where hours were not constrained, and others were replaced by cheaper, unemployed individuals as relative hourly wages increased in large firms. Employment of persons directly affected by the law declined, although the net effect on aggregate employment was not significant.

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Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number 06/251.

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Length: 24 pages
Date of creation: 09 Nov 2006
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Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:06/251

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Related research
Keywords: Workweek ; coordination ; job-sharing ; welfare ; Employment policy ; France ; Labor ; Legislation ;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Edward C. Prescott, 2004. "Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Jul, pages 2-13. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Alberto Alesina & Edward L. Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote, 2005. "Work and Leisure in the U.S. and Europe: Why So Different?," NBER Working Papers 11278, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Olivier Blanchard, 2004. "The Economic Future of Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 3-26, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Jennifer Hunt, 1998. "Hours Reductions as Work-Sharing," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 29(1998-1), pages 339-381. [Downloadable!]
  5. Daron Acemoglu & Joshua D. Angrist, 2001. "Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans with Disabilities Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 915-957, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Cooper, Russell & John, Andrew, 1988. "Coordinating Coordination Failures in Keynesian Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 441-63, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Patrick Artus & Pierre Cahuc & André Zylberberg, 2007. "Réglementation du temps de travail, revenu et emploi," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00255820_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
  2. Henry Saffer & Karine Lamiraud, 2008. "The Effect of Hours of Work on Social Interaction," NBER Working Papers 13743, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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