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Has Work Sharing Worked in Germany?

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  • Hunt, Jennifer

Abstract

Starting in 1985, (West) German unions began to reduce standard hours on an industry-by-industry basis in an attempt to lower unemployment. Whether ‘work-sharing’ works – whether employment rises when hours per worker are reduced – is theoretically ambiguous. I test this using both individual data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and industry data to exploit the cross-section and time-series hours variation. For the 1984–9 period, I find that, in response to a one-hour fall in standard hours, employment rose by 0.3–0.7%, but that total hours worked fell by 2–3%, implying possible output losses. As a group, however, workers were better off as the wage bill rose. The employment growth implied by the mean standard hours decline, at most 1.1%, was not enough to bring German employment growth close to the US rate. Results for the 1990–94 period were more pessimistic.

Suggested Citation

  • Hunt, Jennifer, 1997. "Has Work Sharing Worked in Germany?," CEPR Discussion Papers 1553, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1553
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    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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