The Expanding Workweek? Understanding Trends in Long Work Hours Among U.S. Men, 1979-2004

50 Pages Posted: 26 Jan 2006

See all articles by Peter Kuhn

Peter Kuhn

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Fernando A. Lozano

Pomona College; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 2006

Abstract

After declining for most of the century, the share of employed American men regularly working more than 50 hours per week began to increase around 1970. This trend has been especially pronounced among highly educated, high-wage, salaried, and older men. Using two decades of CPS data, we rule out a number of factors, including business cycles, changes in observed labor force characteristics, and changes in the level of men's real hourly earnings as primary explanations of this trend. Instead we argue that increases in salaried men's marginal incentives to supply hours beyond 40 accounted for the recent rise. Since these increases were accompanied by a rough constancy in real earnings at 40 hours, they can be interpreted as a compensated wage increase.

Keywords: labor supply, work hours

JEL Classification: J22

Suggested Citation

Kuhn, Peter J. and Lozano, Fernando A., The Expanding Workweek? Understanding Trends in Long Work Hours Among U.S. Men, 1979-2004 (January 2006). IZA Discussion Paper No. 1924, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=878327 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.878327

Peter J. Kuhn (Contact Author)

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) - Department of Economics ( email )

North Hall 3036
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
United States
(805) 893-3666 (Phone)
(805) 893-8830 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Fernando A. Lozano

Pomona College ( email )

Claremont, CA 91711
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
146
Abstract Views
1,754
Rank
266,316
PlumX Metrics