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Does Worksharing Work? Some Empirical Evidence From The Iab‐Establishment Panel

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  • M. J. Andrews
  • T. Schank
  • R. Simmons

Abstract

Recent policy debate in Europe suggests that a shorter workweek will lead to more jobs (worksharing). We derive and estimate a model where the firm employs two types of workers, some working overtime, the rest standard hours. Worksharing is not always a prediction of the theory. Using German establishment‐level panel data (the IAB‐ESTABLISHMENT panel), 1993–1999, we find no evidence of pro‐worksharing effects except in small plants in the East German non‐service sector. There is evidence that a cut in standard hours lowers the proportion of overtime workers in a plant, as predicted by the theory, and increases the proportion of standard‐time plants.

Suggested Citation

  • M. J. Andrews & T. Schank & R. Simmons, 2005. "Does Worksharing Work? Some Empirical Evidence From The Iab‐Establishment Panel," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 52(2), pages 141-176, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:52:y:2005:i:2:p:141-176
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0036-9292.2005.00339.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Raposo & Jan Ours, 2010. "How a Reduction of Standard Working Hours Affects Employment Dynamics," De Economist, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 193-207, June.
    2. Taehyun Ahn, 2022. "Workweek reduction and women's job turnover: Evidence from labor legislation in South Korea," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(4), pages 1607-1625, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Santos Raposo, P.M. & van Ours, J.C., 2008. "How Working Time Reduction Affects Employment and Earnings," Discussion Paper 2008-81, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    5. repec:clr:wugarc:y:2016v:42i:04p:665 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Raposo, Pedro S. & van Ours, Jan C., 2010. "How working time reduction affects jobs and wages," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 61-63, January.
    7. Sánchez, Rafael, 2013. "Do reductions of standard hours affect employment transitions?: Evidence from Chile," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 24-37.
    8. Philipp Poyntner, 2016. "Beschäftigungseffekte von Arbeitszeitverkürzung," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 42(4), pages 665-684.
    9. Alan Sule & Honoré Bo E. & Hu Luojia & Leth-Petersen Søren, 2014. "Estimation of Panel Data Regression Models with Two-Sided Censoring or Truncation," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, January.
    10. Virginia Tsoukatou, 2019. "Examination of the Correlation between Working Time Reduction and Employment," Papers 1912.01605, arXiv.org.
    11. Lassana Cissokho, 2019. "The productivity cost of power outages for manufacturing small and medium enterprises in Senegal," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(4), pages 499-521, December.
    12. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    13. Rafael Gralla & Kornelius Kraft & Stanislav Volgushev, 2017. "The effects of works councils on overtime hours," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 143-168, May.

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