Not working at work: Loafing, unemployment and labor productivity

Michael Burda, Katie Genadek and Daniel S. Hamermesh

No 2015-033, SFB 649 Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk

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: time use; non-work; loafing; shirking; efficiency wage; labor productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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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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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:sfb649:sfb649dp2015-033

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