Aggregate hours worked in OECD countries: new measurement and implications for business cycles

Lee Ohanian and Andrea Raffo

No 1039, International Finance Discussion Papers from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: We build a dataset of quarterly hours worked for 14 OECD countries. We document that hours are as volatile as output, that a large fraction of labor adjustment takes place along the intensive margin, and that the volatility of hours relative to output has increased over time. We use these data to reassess the Great Recession and prior recessions. The Great Recession in many countries is a puzzle in that labor wedges are small, while those in the U.S. Great Recession - and those in previous European recessions - are much larger.

Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cba, nep-eec, nep-lab, nep-lma and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Aggregate hours worked in OECD countries: New measurement and implications for business cycles (2012)
Working Paper: Aggregate Hours Worked in OECD Countries: New Measurement and Implications for Business Cycles (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedgif:1039

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