How Do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications

Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola, Alexander Bick and David Lagakos

No 11092, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper builds a new internationally comparable database of hours worked to measure how hours vary with income across and within countries. We document that average hours worked per adult are substantially higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. The pattern of decreasing hours with income holds for both men and women, for adults of all ages and education levels, and along both the extensive and intensive margin. Within countries, hours worked per employed are also decreasing in the individual wage for most countries, though in the richest countries, hours worked are flat or increasing in the wage. Our findings imply that aggregate productivity and welfare differences across countries are larger than currently thought.

Keywords: Hours worked; Labor supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E01 E24 J21 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Related works:
Journal Article: How Do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications (2018)
Working Paper: How do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications (2017)
Working Paper: How do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications (2016)
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