Job search, hours restrictions and desired hours of work

Hans Bloemen (hbloemen@feweb.vu.nl)

No 38, Serie Research Memoranda from VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics

Abstract: We present a structural empirical job search model in which job offers are characterized by a wage rate and the length of the working week. The unemployed accept a job if the direct utility level of the wage-hours combination is higher than the reservation utility level. The latter is determined by the direct utility of being unemployed (depending on the value of leisure and the benefit level) and the expected gains of search. Specific attention is paid to identification, since the observed hours distribution is determined both by the hours offer distribution and by preferences over hours. To identify the hours offers and the optimal hours (defined by preferences) separately, we use information on desired working hours. We estimate three model variants: a base specification with only information on observed working hours, and two variants with desired hours, which differ from each other in the way in which the relation between desired hours and optimal hours is modeled. We compare the various specifications on basis of differences in the fit of the distribution of unemployment duration, observed working hours and desired working hours and on basis of differences in policy relevant elasticities.

Keywords: job search; duration models; labour supply; simulation estimates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Job Search, Hours Restrictions, and Desired Hours of Work (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vua:wpaper:2002-38

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