How a reduction of standard working hours affects unemployment dynamics
Santos Raposo,P.M. van Ours,J.C.
Santos Raposo,P.M.
van Ours,J.C.
Abstract
December 1, 1996 a new law was implemented in Portugal to gradually reduce the standard workweek from 44 to 40 h. We study how this mandatory reduction affected employment through job creation and job destruction. There was considerable regional, sectoral and firm-size variation in the share of workers who were affected by the working hours reduction. We exploit this variation to assess the impact of the workweek reduction. We find evidence that the working hours reduction had a positive effect on employment through a fall in job destruction.
Description
Appeared earlier as CentER DP 2009-50
Date
2010
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
SDG 1 - No Poverty, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
Citation
Santos Raposo, P M & van Ours, J C 2010, 'How a reduction of standard working hours affects unemployment dynamics', Economist-Netherlands, vol. 158, no. 2, pp. 193-207.