Not Working at Work: Loafing, Unemployment and Labor Productivity

Michael Burda, Katie Genadek and Daniel Hamermesh

VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

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 co-varies positively with the local unemployment rate. While the fraction of workers who spend some time in non-work varies pro-cyclically, the average time spent by workers in non-work conditional on any positive non-work varies countercyclically. These results are consistent with a model in which heterogeneous workers are paid efficiency wages to refrain from loafing on the job. That model also predicts relationships of the incidence and conditional amounts of non-work with wage rates and unemployment benefits that are observed in links of the ATUS to data characterizing states unemployment insurance schemes.

JEL-codes: E24 J22 J30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-hrm, nep-ltv and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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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:vfsc15:112905

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