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Employment Adjustment and Part-time Jobs: The US and the UK in the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Borowczyk-Martins

    (Département d'économie)

  • Etienne Lalé

    (Bristol University)

Abstract

We document a new fact about the cyclical behavior of aggregate hours. Using microdata for the US and the UK, we show that changes in hours per worker are driven by fluctuations in part-time employment, which are in turn explained by the cyclical behavior of transitions between full-time and part-time jobs. This reallocation occurs almost exclusively within firms and entails large changes in employees’ schedules of working hours. These patterns are consistent with the view that employers adjust the hours of their employees in response to shocks, and they partly account for the poor recovery that followed the Great Recession.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Etienne Lalé, 2014. "Employment Adjustment and Part-time Jobs: The US and the UK in the Great Recession," Sciences Po Economics Discussion Papers 2014-17, Sciences Po Departement of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/4itbiqg0h38538a71odou3jmkm
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Giuseppe Moscarini & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2012. "The Contribution of Large and Small Employers to Job Creation in Times of High and Low Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2509-2539, October.
    2. Alan Manning & Barbara Petrongolo, 2008. "The Part‐Time Pay Penalty for Women in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(526), pages 28-51, February.
    3. Ohanian, Lee E. & Raffo, Andrea, 2012. "Aggregate hours worked in OECD countries: New measurement and implications for business cycles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 40-56.
    4. Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent, 2011. "A Labor Supply Elasticity Accord?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 487-491, May.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/59cr4u3mmr9pobrceptvua5g8c is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Etienne Lalé, 2018. "The welfare effects of involuntary part-time work," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 183-205.
    2. Carl Singleton, 2018. "Long‐Term Unemployment and the Great Recession: Evidence from UK Stocks and Flows," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 105-126, May.
    3. Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Etienne Lalé, 2016. "The Rise of Part-time Employment," Sciences Po publications 2016-04, Sciences Po.
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4f4eu80n0h8r28g6dadlk02mtb is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/4f4eu80n0h8r28g6dadlk02mtb is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Cardon, James H. & Eide, Eric R. & Phillips, Kerk L. & Showalter, Mark H., 2018. "A model of sleep, leisure and work over the business cycle," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 19-36.
    7. Daniel Schaefer & Carl Singleton, 2017. "Real Wages and Hours in the Great Recession: Evidence from Firms and their Entry-Level Jobs," CESifo Working Paper Series 6766, CESifo.
    8. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/7arg7blugi9b2o08qjafcpg8e2 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7arg7blugi9b2o08qjafcpg8e2 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Giovanni Razzu & Carl Singleton, 2018. "Segregation and Gender Gaps in the United Kingdom's Great Recession and Recovery," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 31-55, October.
    11. Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Etienne Lalé, 2019. "Employment Adjustment and Part-Time Work: Lessons from the United States and the United Kingdom," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 389-435, January.
    12. Daniel Borowczyk-Martins, 2017. "Why does part-time employment increase in recessions?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 397-397, October.
    13. Fernandes, Ana P. & Ferreira, Priscila, 2017. "Financing constraints and fixed-term employment: Evidence from the 2008-9 financial crisis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 215-238.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment; Hours; Part-time Work; Great Recession.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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