IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iza/izawol/journly2017n406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Working hours: Past, present, and future

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Dolton

    (University of Sussex and NIESR, UK, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Working hours across the world are falling, but considerable variation remains. In some countries people work 70% more hours per year, on average, than in other countries. Much of this variation is due to differences in the prevalence of part-time work and patterns of female labor market participation. Looking ahead, the question of how reducing working hours will affect productivity is significant. In addition, how individuals divide up their leisure and work time and what the appropriate work−life balance is in an increasingly technological future are important concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Dolton, 2017. "Working hours: Past, present, and future," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 406-406, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2017:n:406
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/406/pdfs/working-hours-past-present-and-future.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://wol.iza.org/articles/working-hours-past-present-and-future
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward C. Prescott, 2004. "Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 28(Jul), pages 2-13.
    2. Giulia Faggio & Stephen Nickell, 2007. "Patterns of Work Across the OECD," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 416-440, June.
    3. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006.
    4. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    5. John Pencavel, 2015. "The Productivity of Working Hours," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(589), pages 2052-2076, December.
    6. Yoram Barzel, 1973. "The Determination of Daily Hours and Wages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(2), pages 220-238.
    7. Nyland,Chris, 1989. "Reduced Worktime and the Management of Production," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521345477.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Weller, Jürgen, 2022. "Tendencias mundiales, pandemia de COVID-19 y desafíos de la inclusión laboral en América Latina y el Caribe," Documentos de Proyectos 48610, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    2. Stéphane Carcillo & Alexander Hijzen & Stefan Thewissen, 2024. "The limitations of overtime limits to reduce long working hours: Evidence from the 2018 to 2021 working time reform in Korea," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(1), pages 98-126, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Frase & Janet Gornick, 2009. "The Time Divide in Cross-National Perspective: The Work Week, Gender and Education in 17 Countries," LIS Working papers 526, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Collewet, Marion & Sauermann, Jan, 2017. "Working hours and productivity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 96-106.
    3. Herrendorf, Berthold & Rogerson, Richard & Valentinyi, Ákos, 2014. "Growth and Structural Transformation," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 855-941, Elsevier.
    4. Stefano Bartolini & Francesco Sarracino, 2021. "Happier and Sustainable. Possibilities for a post-growth society," Department of Economics University of Siena 855, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    5. Edgar Cruz & Xavier Raurich, 2020. "Leisure time and the sectoral composition of employment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 198-219, October.
    6. Michelle Rendall, 2011. "The Service Sector and Female Market Work: Europe vs US," 2011 Meeting Papers 778, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Tino Berger & Freddy Heylen, 2011. "Differences in Hours Worked in the OECD: Institutions or Fiscal Policies?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(7), pages 1333-1369, October.
    8. Michelle Rendall, 2018. "Female Market Work, Tax Regimes, and the Rise of the Service Sector," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 28, pages 269-289, April.
    9. Ali Fakih, 2014. "Vacation Leave, Work Hours, and Wages: New Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(4), pages 376-398, December.
    10. Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola & Bick, Alexander & Lagakos, David, 2016. "How Do Average Hours Worked Vary with Development? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145576, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Edward C. Prescott & Richard Rogerson & Johanna Wallenius, 2009. "Lifetime Aggregate Labor Supply with Endogenous Workweek Length," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(1), pages 23-36, January.
    12. Fang, Lei & Yang, Fang, 2022. "Consumption and hours in the United States and Europe," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    13. Hansen, Jørgen Drud & Molana, Hassan & Montagna, Catia & Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller, 2012. "Work hours, social value of leisure and globalisation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 317-326.
    14. Lei Fang & Fang Yang, 2021. "Consumption and Hours between the United States and France," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2021-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    15. Charles I. Jones & Peter J. Klenow, 2016. "Beyond GDP? Welfare across Countries and Time," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(9), pages 2426-2457, September.
    16. Jose Emilio Boscá & Rafael Domenech & Javier Ferri, 2008. "Tax Reforms and Labour-market Performance: An Evaluation for Spain using REMS," Working Papers 0804, International Economics Institute, University of Valencia.
    17. Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Richard Rogerson, 2022. "Hours and Wages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(3), pages 1901-1962.
    18. Dürnecker, Georg & Herrendorf, Berthold, 2014. "On the Allocation of Time," Working Papers 14-09, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    19. Asplund Disa, 2017. "Household Production and the Elasticity of Marginal Utility of Consumption," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-25, October.
    20. Monika Engler & Stefan Staubli, 2008. "The Distribution of Leisure Time Across Countries and Over Time," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2008 2008-14, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    working hours; part-time work; female labor market participation; work–life balance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2017:n:406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.