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The Unmeasured Labor Force, The Growth in Work Hours

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  • Barry Bluestone
  • Stephen Rose

Abstract

Is the current labor market as tight as official statistics would seem to indicate? If incumbent workers increase their hours of work, it is irrelevant to the unemployment rate, but hardly irrelevant to the level of labor supply. Bluestone and Rose find that job insecurity and stagnating wages have made Americans willing to work those extra hours to build a financial cushion, and a 1 percent increase in hours worked per worker for a fixed labor supply is equivalent in terms of labor supply to a 1 percent increase in the number of workers. This more realistic picture of labor supply has important implications for expectations that welfare recipients can easily find jobs, for reforms in labor market statistics to provide better information, and for the direction of monetary policy.

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  • Barry Bluestone & Stephen Rose, "undated". "The Unmeasured Labor Force, The Growth in Work Hours," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_39, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:levppb:ppb_39
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 1997. "The NAIRU, Unemployment and Monetary Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 33-49, Winter.
    2. James K. Galbraith, 1997. "Time to Ditch the NAIRU," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 93-108, Winter.
    3. Robert J. Gordon, 1997. "The Time-Varying NAIRU and Its Implications for Economic Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 11-32, Winter.
    4. Levy, Frank & Murnane, Richard J, 1992. "U.S. Earnings Levels and Earnings Inequality: A Review of Recent Trends and Proposed Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1333-1381, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, 1998. "(Full) Employment Policy: Theory and Practice," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_258, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Marc-Andre Pigeon & L. Randall Wray, "undated". "Did the Clinton Rising Tide Raise All Boats? Job Opportunity for the Less Skilled," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_45, Levy Economics Institute.

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