Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/246051 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 20-337
Publisher: 
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI
Abstract: 
Joblessness is highly seasonal. To analyze how households adapt to seasonal joblessness, we introduce a measure of seasonal work interruptions premised on the idea that a seasonal worker will tend to exit employment around the same time each year. We show that an excess share of prime-age U.S. workers experience recurrent separations spaced exactly 12 months apart. These separations coincide with aggregate seasonal downturns and are concentrated in seasonally volatile industries. Examining workers most prone to seasonal work interruptions, we find that these workers incur large earnings losses during the off-season. Lost earnings are 1) driven mainly by repeated separations from the same employer, 2) not recouped at other firms, 3) partly offset by unemployment benefits, and 4) amplified by concurrent drops in partners' earnings. On net, household income falls by about $0.80 for each $1 lost in own earnings.
Subjects: 
seasonality
seasonal employment
job loss
household income
household labor dynamics
unemployment
unemployment insurance
JEL: 
D10
E32
J63
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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