Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/328441 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Economies [ISSN:] 2227-7099 [Volume:] 10 [Issue:] 6 [Article No.:] 141 [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 1-14
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
The main objectives of this study are to take into account the effects of COVID-19 on labor market functioning, and to evaluate the effects of policies regarding working time reduction, in terms of both containing the spread of infection and economic activity. Accordingly, we describe a macroeconomic model wherein we test the effects of reducing working hours in the Keynesian unemployment framework, which comprises a fixed prices and wages regime, and a consumption demand that is dependent on salaries and autonomous demand components. Moreover, we also describe a neoclassical unemployment framework, wherein the labor market is only governed by dynamic demand forces. Theoretical results show that, according to the epidemiological phase, a reduction in working hours may be a good policy for containing the virus and improving employment in the Keynesian framework when established conditions are maintained. In the neoclassical framework, a work sharing policy will fail if some conditions do not occur, and it could cause an increase in the spread of the virus when a reduction of epidemic containment measures occurs. Employment will increase when the pandemic ends. A numerical simulation confirms that a reduction in working hours could reduce virus diffusion, but only under established, constrained parameters in both frameworks.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
simulation
working time policy
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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