Why Do Americans No Longer Work So Much More Than Non-Americans?

Serdar Birinci, Loukas Karabarbounis and Kurt See

No 35020, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In the 1990s, Americans used to work much more than non-Americans. Nowadays, about half of the gap in hours worked has reversed. To evaluate the convergence of working hours, we develop a tractable model of labor supply enriched with multiple sources of heterogeneity across individuals, an extensive margin of participation, multi-member households, and an elaborate system of taxes and benefits upon non-employment. Using detailed measurements from micro-level and aggregate datasets, we identify model parameters and sources of heterogeneity across individuals for various countries. We run a horse race between competing explanations and find that U.S. hours per person declined after 2000 owing mainly to the rise of government health benefits provided to the non-employed. Non-U.S. countries have generous benefits for the non-employed, but this generosity has not changed as much over time as in the United States, and public health coverage does not depend on employment status or income levels. For these countries, the rise of labor supply is generally accounted for by a mix of factors, such as the rise of wages and the falling disutility of work.

JEL-codes: E24 E60 H53 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04
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Working Paper: Why Do Americans No Longer Work So Much More Than Non-Americans? (2026)
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