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Some surprising facts about working time accounts and the business cycle

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  • Balleer, Almut
  • Gehrke, Britta
  • Merkl, Christian

Abstract

This paper reveals that German firms with working time accounts (WTAs) show a similar separation and hiring behavior in response to revenue changes as firms without WTAs. This finding casts doubt on the popular hypothesis that WTAs were the key driver of the unusually small increase in German unemployment in the Great Recession. One possible explanation is that firms substitute WTAs by short-time work. However, our results show no evidence for this substitution. Firms with WTAs use short-time work more to adjust labor over the cycle than firms without WTAs.

Suggested Citation

  • Balleer, Almut & Gehrke, Britta & Merkl, Christian, 2014. "Some surprising facts about working time accounts and the business cycle," Kiel Working Papers 1955, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1955
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tito Boeri & Herbert Bruecker, 2011. "Short-time work benefits revisited: some lessons from the Great Recession [‘Reversed roles? Wage and employment effects of the current crisis’]," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 26(68), pages 697-765.
    2. Balleer, Almut & Gehrke, Britta & Lechthaler, Wolfgang & Merkl, Christian, 2016. "Does short-time work save jobs? A business cycle analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 99-122.
    3. Alexander Herzog-Stein & Ines Zapf, 2014. "Navigating the Great Recession," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(3), pages 891-925, July.
    4. Cahuc, Pierre & Carcillo, Stéphane, 2011. "Is Short-time Work a Good Method to Keep Unemployment Down?," CEPR Discussion Papers 8214, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:26:y:2011:i:68:p:697-765 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Lutz Bellmann & Olaf Hübler, 2015. "Working time accounts and firm performance in Germany," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Sugata Ghosh & Anirban Mitra, 2019. "Ethnic Identities, Public Spending and Political Regimes," Studies in Economics 1909, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    3. Andrey Launov, 2019. "Working Time Accounts and Turnover," CESifo Working Paper Series 7933, CESifo.
    4. Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2015. "Are Working Time Accounts Beneficial for German Establishments?," IZA Discussion Papers 9583, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    working time accounts; short-time work; business cycle;

    JEL classification:

    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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