Who is Working When? - Working Time Arrangments of Self-Employed and Employees: A Microeconometric Analysis of German Time Use Data

FFB Discussion Paper No. 45

37 Pages Posted: 20 May 2009

See all articles by Joachim Merz

Joachim Merz

Research Institute on Professions; Research Institute on Professions; Leuphana University of Lueneburg; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Derik Burgert

University of Lueneburg

Date Written: July 2004

Abstract

In recent years new patterns of working time have appeared along with an increased flexibility concerning timing of work and the decay of the regular working day. We analyze the timing of working time for both self-employed and employees based on the German time budget study 1991/92. In the first step we systematise different courses of the working day. Thereby, four categories of working time patterns emerged. After that the question is raised if differences between self-employed and employees can be found concerning their daily working times. After a descriptive analysis of the categories a multinomial logit model is employed in order to find out if the occupational background of a person can be used to explain the decision which working time pattern to choose. We control for variables stemming from human capital theory led explanations from ‚new home economics’ and from time use research. It can be shown that particularly self-employed without any employee tend to work at non-core times such as early in the morning and/or late in the evening or in multiple episodes with at least one longer interruption.

Note: Downloadable document is in German.

Keywords: Working hour arrangements, labour supply, time allocation, human capital, self-employed, employees, multinomial logit, time use diaries, German Time Budget Survey 1991/92

JEL Classification: J22, J23, J24, J30

Suggested Citation

Merz, Joachim and Merz, Joachim and Burgert, Derik, Who is Working When? - Working Time Arrangments of Self-Employed and Employees: A Microeconometric Analysis of German Time Use Data (July 2004). FFB Discussion Paper No. 45, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1407450 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1407450

Joachim Merz (Contact Author)

Research Institute on Professions ( email )

Lüneburg
Germany

Research Institute on Professions ( email )

Lüneburg
Germany

Leuphana University of Lueneburg

Scharnhorststrasse 1
Lüneburg, 21314
Germany

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Derik Burgert

University of Lueneburg ( email )

Akademisches Auslandsamt
D-21332 Luneburg
Germany