Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33832 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2195
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In the U.S. the relationship between hours worked and employee earnings has been reversed. Whereas the highest earners used to work the shortest hours, now they work the longest hours. This study examines whether such a reversal has occurred elsewhere, namely, Japan. Since the early 1990s the Japanese government has sought to transform the country into a lifestyle superpower by trying to encourage more daily time for leisure and less time on the job. Analyzing data for 1976-2003, it is clear that scheduled and actual working hours did indeed fall after 1990. During the early years of the sample, 1976-89, the highest earners also worked the shortest hours, that is, high income workers were time-privileged. As working hours fell in the 1990s, the time privileges of the highest earners changed too. Specifically, the highest earners gained time advantages relative to the lowest earners but lost some advantages relative to the median.
Subjects: 
time allocation and labor supply
wage level and structure
country studies: Japan
JEL: 
J22
J31
J40
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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