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Work Hours, Wages, and Vacation Leave

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Author Info
Joseph G. Altonji
Emiko Usui

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Abstract

Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Health and Retirement Study, we provide a set of facts about vacation leave and its relationship to hours worked, hours constraints, wage rates, worker characteristics, spouse's vacation leave, labor market experience, job tenure, occupation, industry, and labor market conditions. We show that on average vacation time taken rises 1 to 1 with paid vacation but varies around it, that annual hours worked fall by about 1 full time week with every week of paid vacation, that the gap between time taken and time paid for is higher for women, union members, and government workers, that hourly wage rates have a strong positive relationship with paid vacation weeks both in the cross section and across jobs, and that nonwage compensation is positively related to vacation weeks. We provide evidence that vacation leave is determined by broad employer policy rather than by negotiation between the worker and firm. In particular, it is strongly related to job seniority but depends very little on labor market experience, and for job changers it is only weakly related to the amount of vacation on the previous job.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 11693.

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Date of creation: Oct 2005
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11693

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J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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References listed on IDEAS
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. Moffitt, Robert, 1984. "The Estimation of a Joint Wage-Hours Labor Supply Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 550-66, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  4. Usui, Emiko, 2009. "Wages, non-wage characteristics, and predominantly male jobs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 52-63, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Berkovec, James & Stern, Steven, 1991. "Job Exit Behavior of Older Men," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 189-210, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Kevin Lang & Sumon Majumdar, 2004. "The Pricing Of Job Characteristics When Markets Do Not Clear: Theory And Policy Implications," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1111-1128, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Duncan, Greg J & Holmlund, Bertil, 1983. "Was Adam Smith Right after All? Another Test of the Theory of Compensating Wage Differentials," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(4), pages 366-79, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Joseph G. Altonji & Christina H. Paxson, 1986. "Job Characteristics and Hours of Work," NBER Working Papers 1895, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 1984. "Partial Retirement and the Analysis of Retirement Behavior," NBER Working Papers 0763, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  13. Michael D. Hurd, 1993. "The Effect of Labor Market Rigidities on the Labor Force Behavior of Older Workers," NBER Working Papers 4462, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Joseph G. Altonji & Nicolas Williams, 2005. "Do wages rise with job seniority? A reassessment," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 58(3), pages 370-397, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Deardorff, Alan V & Stafford, Frank P, 1976. "Compensation of Cooperating Factors," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(4), pages 671-84, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Rosen, Harvey S, 1976. "Taxes in a Labor Supply Model with Joint Wage-Hours Determination," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(3), pages 485-507, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  20. Brown, Charles, 1980. "Equalizing Differences in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 113-34, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Joseph G. Altonji & Christina H. Paxson, 1987. "Labor Supply Preferences, Hours Constraints, and Hours-Wage Tradeoffs," NBER Working Papers 2121, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Daniel Aaronson & Eric French, 2004. "The Effect of Part-Time Work on Wages: Evidence from the Social Security Rules," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 329-352, April. [Downloadable!]
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  25. Barro, Robert J., 1977. "Long-term contracting, sticky prices, and monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 305-316, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  28. John M. Abowd & Orley C. Ashenfelter, 1981. "Anticipated Unemployment, Temporary Layoffs, and Compensating Wage Differentials," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in Labor Markets, pages 141-186 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  29. Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1998. "When We Work," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 321-25, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 1984. "Partial retirement and the analysis of retirement behavior," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 37(3), pages 403-415, April.
  31. Joseph G. Altonji & Jennifer Oldham, 2003. "Vacation laws and annual work hours," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q III, pages 19-29. [Downloadable!]
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  33. Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1999. "The Timing of Work over Time," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(452), pages 37-66, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  35. Joseph G. Altonji & Christina H. Paxson, 1990. "Labor Supply, Hours Constraints and Job Mobility," NBER Working Papers 3474, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  36. Landers, Renee M & Rebitzer, James B & Taylor, Lowell J, 1996. "Rat Race Redux: Adverse Selection in the Determination of Work Hours in Law Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 329-48, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

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. Gene Amromin & Carrie Jankowski & Richard D. Porter, 2005. "Transforming payment choices by doubling fees on the Illinois Tollway," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
  2. Barkume, Anthony J., 2007. "Some New Evidence on Overtime Use, Total Job Compensation, and Wage Rates," Working Papers 402, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. [Downloadable!]
  3. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2006. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," NBER Working Papers 12082, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Eugene Amromin & Carrie Jankowski & Richard Porter, 2007. "Transforming payment choices by doubling fees on the Illinois Tollway," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q II, pages 22-47. [Downloadable!]
  6. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2006. "Measuring trends in leisure," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
  7. Mark Wooden & Diana Warren, 2007. "Paid Annual Leave and Working Hours," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n20, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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