Improving health and economic security by reducing work schedule uncertainty

Kristen Harknett, Daniel Schneider and Véronique Irwin
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Kristen Harknett: a Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143;
Daniel Schneider: b Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
Véronique Irwin: c Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1980

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 42, e2107828118

Abstract: Alongside wages, work schedules are a fundamental component of job quality, yet work schedules are largely unregulated in the US labor market. In 2017, Seattle became the second large US city to pass fair workweek legislation. Seattle’s Secure Scheduling ordinance aims to increase schedule predictability by requiring employers to provide 2 wk notice of work schedules, among other provisions. Our paper shows that Seattle’s law not only increased schedule predictability but also improved subjective well-being, sleep quality, and economic security. The law had no effect on reports of psychological distress. Using the natural experiment afforded by Seattle’s fair workweek law, we provide causal evidence that uncertainty about work time has harmful effects on worker happiness, sleep quality, and material hardship.

Keywords: labor; uncertainty; health; job quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:118:y:2021:p:e2107828118

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