Not Working at Work: Loafing, Unemployment and Labor Productivity

Michael Burda, Katie R. Genadek () and Daniel S. Hamermesh ()
Additional contact information
Katie R. Genadek: University of Colorado, Boulder
Daniel S. Hamermesh: University of Texas at Austin

No 9095, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) 2003-12, we estimate time spent by workers in non-work while on the job. Non-work time is substantial and varies positively with the local unemployment rate. While the average time spent by workers in non-work conditional on any positive non-work rises with the unemployment rate, the fraction of workers who report time in non-work varies pro-cyclically, declining in recessions. These results are consistent with a model in which heterogeneous workers are paid efficiency wages to refrain from loafing on the job. That model correctly predicts relationships of the incidence and conditional amounts of non-work with wage rates and measures of unemployment benefits in state data linked to the ATUS, and it is consistent with observed occupational differences in non-work.

Keywords: labor productivity; time use; non-work; loafing; shirking; efficiency wage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2015-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-hrm, nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - part of this paper published as 'Unemployment and Effort at Work' in: Economica, 2020, 87 (347), 662 - 681

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Related works:
Working Paper: Not Working at Work: Loafing, Unemployment and Labor Productivity (2016)
Working Paper: Not Working At Work: Loafing, Unemployment and Labor Productivity (2015)
Working Paper: Not working at work: Loafing, unemployment and labor productivity (2015)
Working Paper: Not Working at Work: Loafing, Unemployment and Labor Productivity (2015)
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