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Part and Full-Time Employment over the Business Cycle

Author

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  • Griffy, Benjamin
  • Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro

Abstract

We develop a model that allows us to understand the cyclicality of part and full-time employment. In the model, labor market frictions generate a surplus between workers and firms, who jointly decide whether their employment relationship is best suited for part or full-time work based on match quality shocks and the broader economic environment. Lower acyclical costs cause the surplus of part-time matches to vary less with the business cycle than the surplus of full-time matches. As a consequence, the model is able to generate procyclical full-time employment and countercyclical part-time employment as observed in the data. We also show that ignoring part-time employment understates the impact on employment and inequality of a recession and that subsidizing part-time work is far more effective than increasing unemployment insurance at preventing a labor market downturn.

Suggested Citation

  • Griffy, Benjamin & Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro, 2020. "Part and Full-Time Employment over the Business Cycle," MPRA Paper 105095, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:105095
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nakamura, Daisuke, 2024. "Is part-time employment an adjusting valve?: Business cycle analysis on the labor market in Japan by dual search and matching model," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

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    Keywords

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    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
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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