Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/82184 
Year of Publication: 
2001
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2001:8
Publisher: 
Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU), Uppsala
Abstract: 
This paper extends a general equilibrium model of unemployment and working hours and evaluates the model on a 5 percent working time reduction for shift workers in Sweden. Panel data from firms' payroll records are used to examine the relationship between standard hours, actual hours and hourly wages. The main results are: i) Actual hours only decreased by 40 percent of the reduction in standard hours. ii) Hourly wages for shift workers rose relative to wages for daytime workers. iii) The wage increase was more pronounced for workers who received a larger reduction of actual hours. The conclusion is that working time reductions that allow for discretion on lower levels of bargaining do not necessarily reduce actual hours. Furthermore, working time reductions may result in an increase in wage pressure, causing unemployment to rise.
Subjects: 
Work sharing
working hours
unemployment
wage pressure
JEL: 
E24
J22
J23
J51
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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