Long Work Hours: Volunteers and Conscripts

Robert Drago (), Mark Wooden and David Black ()
Additional contact information
Robert Drago: Pennsylvania State University
David Black: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research

No 2484, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Panel data from Australia are used to study the prevalence of work hours mismatch among long hours workers and, more importantly, how that mismatch persists and changes over time, and what factors are associated with these changes. Particular attention is paid to the roles played by household debt, ideal worker characteristics and gender. Both static and dynamic multinomial logit models are estimated, with the dependent variable distinguishing long hours workers from other workers, and within the former, between “volunteers”, who prefer long hours, and “conscripts”, who do not. The results suggest that: (i) high levels of debt are mainly associated with conscript status; (ii) ideal worker types can be found among both volunteers and conscripts, but are much more likely to be conscripts; and (iii) women are relatively rare among long hours workers, and especially long hours volunteers, suggesting long hours jobs may be discriminatory. The research highlights the importance of distinguishing conscripts and volunteers to understand the prevalence and dynamics of long work hours.

Keywords: overwork; working hours; HILDA survey; preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2006-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - Published in: British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2009, 47(3), 571-600. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8543.2009.00717.x

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Related works:
Journal Article: Long Work Hours: Volunteers and Conscripts (2009)
Working Paper: Long Work Hours: Volunteers and Conscripts (2006)
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