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Has Work-sharing Worked in Finland?

Author

Listed:
  • Petri Böckerman

    (Labour Institute for Economic Research)

  • Jaakko Kiander

Abstract

The paper investigates the employment effects of working time reductions in Finland by dividing the economy into six main sectors from 1960 to 1996. Work-sharing works if there exists a tradeoff between the average working time and employment. This means that a reduction in average working hours delivers an increase in employment. The main result is that a reduction in actual average hours seems to deliver an increase in employment in the short run on condition that output does not deteriorate as a result of shorter average working time.

Suggested Citation

  • Petri Böckerman & Jaakko Kiander, 1998. "Has Work-sharing Worked in Finland?," Working Papers 148, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    • Handle: RePEc:pst:wpaper:148
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    File URL: https://labore.fi/wp-content/uploads/1998/01/Tutkimusselosteita-148.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer Hunt, 1996. "The Response of Wages and Actual Hours Worked to the Reduction of Standard Hours in Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 138, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
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    6. Ilmakunnas, Pekka, 1991. "Working Time, Productivity and Labor Demand in Finnish Manufacturing," Discussion Papers 362, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    7. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    8. Tor Jacobson & Henry Ohlsson, 2000. "Working time, employment, and work sharing: Evidence from Sweden," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 169-187.
    9. Jennifer Hunt, 1996. "The Response of Wages and Actual Hours Worked to the Reductions of Standard Hours," NBER Working Papers 5716, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Johansen, Soren, 1995. "Likelihood-Based Inference in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Models," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198774501.
    11. repec:bla:scandj:v:90:y:1988:i:1:p:45-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Jennifer Hunt, 1999. "Has Work-Sharing Worked in Germany?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 117-148.
    13. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

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    2. Alho, Kari, 2002. "The Equilibrium Rate of Unemployment and Policies to Lower It: The Case of Finland," Discussion Papers 839, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    3. Arvind Ashta, 2017. "Work-sharing from Different Angles: A literature review," Working Papers CEB 17-033, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Bartsch, Klaus, 2007. "Gesamtwirtschaftliche Wirkungen von Arbeitszeiterhöhungen ohne Lohnausgleich: Makroökonometrische Wirkungsanalysen für Deutschland im Kontext der aktuellen Arbeitszeitdebatte," Arbeitspapiere 100, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.

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    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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