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American Economic Review Vol. 103 No. 3 2013

Cyclical Variation in Labor Hours and Productivity Using the ATUS

Michael C. Burda1; Daniel S. Hamermesh2; Jay Stewart3

1 School of Business and Economics, Humboldt University, Spandauerstrasse 1, D-10099 Berlin. · 2 Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 and Royal Holloway University of London. · 3 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Massachusets Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20212.

Abstract

We examine monthly variation in weekly work hours using data from 2003 to 2010. The data sources include the Current Population Survey (CPS) on hours/worker, the Current Employment Survey (CES) on hours/job, and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) on both. The ATUS data minimize recall difficulties and constrain hours of work to accord with total available time. The ATUS hours/worker are less cyclical than the CPS series, but the hours/job are more cyclical than the CES series. We present alternative estimates of productivity based on ATUS data, and find that it is more pro-cyclical than other productivity measures.

DOI
10.1257/aer.103.3.99
Volume
103
Issue
3
Pages
99-104
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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