(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
The Demand for Workers and Hours and the Effects of Job Security Policies: Theory and Evidence
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/2056.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Demand for Workers and Hours and the Effects of Job Security Policies: Theory and Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel S. Hamermesh

Abstract

There has been a wide variety of research on worker-hours substitution and the effects of various costs on the speed and extent to which labor demand adjusts. Much of this literature, though, confuses various types of fixed costs and fails to provide a guide for identifying how changes in labor-cost structures affect static relative demands for workers and hours and the paths by which they adjust. This study presents a typology of labor cost market policies in OECD countries are pigeonholed by their effects on labor costs are view of the evidence indicates clearly that there is some slight substitution between workers and hours along a constant effective-labor isoquant. The evidence is clear that employers adjust the demand for hours more rapidly than that for workers and that both adjust fairly rapidly. It also shows that a major effect of cost-increasing policies designed to induce substitution from hours to workers is a reduction in the total amount of worker-hours demanded. Original analysis demonstrates that lags in the adjustment of employment in response to changes in demand lengthened in most OECD countries during the 1970s.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1986. "The Demand for Workers and Hours and the Effects of Job Security Policies: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 2056, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2056
    Note: LS
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w2056.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crawford, Robert G., 1979. "Expectations and labor market adjustments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 207-232.
    2. Matthew D. Shapiro, 1986. "The Dynamic Demand for Capital and Labor," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(3), pages 513-542.
    3. Meese, Richard, 1980. "Dynamic factor demand schedules for labor and capital under rational expectations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 141-158, September.
    4. James L. Medoff & Katharine G. Abraham, 1980. "Experience, Performance, and Earnings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(4), pages 703-736.
    5. John T. Addison & Pedro Portugal, 1987. "The Effect of Advance Notification of Plant Closings on Unemployment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(1), pages 3-16, October.
    6. Jacob Mincer & Boyan Jovanovic, 1981. "Labor Mobility and Wages," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in Labor Markets, pages 21-64, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1987. "The Costs of Worker Displacement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(1), pages 51-75.
    8. Sargent, Thomas J, 1978. "Estimation of Dynamic Labor Demand Schedules under Rational Expectations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 1009-1044, December.
    9. Rossana, Robert J, 1985. "Buffer Stocks and Labor Demand: Further Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 16-26, February.
    10. Lazear, Edward P, 1981. "Agency, Earnings Profiles, Productivity, and Hours Restrictions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(4), pages 606-620, September.
    11. Michael Rothschild, 1971. "On the Cost of Adjustment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 85(4), pages 605-622.
    12. Chang, Julius C., 1983. "An econometric model of the short-run demand for workers and hours in the U.S. auto industry," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 301-316, August.
    13. repec:bla:econom:v:45:y:1978:i:180:p:329-45 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Topel, Robert H, 1982. "Inventories, Layoffs, and the Short-Run Demand for Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 769-787, September.
    15. Olivia S. Mitchell, 1982. "Fringe Benefits and Labor Mobility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 17(2), pages 286-298.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas K. Bauer & Stefan Bender & Holger Bonin, 2007. "Dismissal Protection and Worker Flows in Small Establishments," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(296), pages 804-821, November.
    2. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino, 1999. "Is Portugal really so arteriosclerotic? Results from a cross-country analysis of labor adjustment," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-30, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Guillermo Mondino & Silvia Montoya, 2004. "The Effects of Labor Market Regulations on Employment Decisions by Firms. Empirical Evidence for Argentina," NBER Chapters, in: Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean, pages 351-400, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nti, Kofi O. & Dompere, Kofi K., 1997. "Technological progress and optimal factor demand," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 117-130, April.
    2. Flabbi, Luca & Ichino, Andrea, 2001. "Productivity, seniority and wages: new evidence from personnel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 359-387, June.
    3. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:789-848 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Robert Amano, "undated". "Empirical Evidence on the Cost of Adjustment and Dynamic Labour Demand," Staff Working Papers 95-3, Bank of Canada.
    6. Shapiro, Matthew D, 1986. "Capital Utilization and Capital Accumulation: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 1(3), pages 211-234, July.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:473-522 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Tinsley, P A, 2002. "Rational Error Correction," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 197-225, April.
    9. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:525-602 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Polachek, Solomon W., 2008. "Earnings Over the Life Cycle: The Mincer Earnings Function and Its Applications," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 4(3), pages 165-272, April.
    11. Joseph G. Altonji & Nicolas Williams, 1992. "The Effects of Labor Market Experience, Job Seniority, and Job Mobility on Wage Growth," NBER Working Papers 4133, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jung, Sven, 2013. "Employment Adjustment in German Firms," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79696, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Jung, Sven, 2012. "Employment adjustment in German firms," Discussion Papers 80, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    14. Sven Jung, 2014. "Employment adjustment in German firms [Betriebliche Beschäftigungsanpassung in Deutschland]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 47(1), pages 83-106, March.
    15. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne & Stanger, Shuchita, 1999. "The Highs and Lows of the Minimum Wage Effect: A Time-Series Cross-Section Study of the Canadian Law," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 318-350, April.
    16. Rossana, Robert J., 1988. "Interrelated Demands for Buffer Stocks and Productive Inputs: Estimates for Two-Digit Manufacturing Industries," Department of Economics and Business - Archive 259428, North Carolina State University, Department of Economics.
    17. Lloyd Ulman, 1992. "Why Should Human Resource Managers Pay High Wages?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 177-212, June.
    18. John Bound & Breno Braga & Joseph M. Golden & Gaurav Khanna, 2015. "Recruitment of Foreigners in the Market for Computer Scientists in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 187-223.
    19. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:305-355 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Weiss, Matthias, 2016. "Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 30-42.
    21. Alberto Bayo-Moriones & Jose E. Galdon-Sanchez & Maia Güell, 2010. "Is seniority-based pay used as a motivational device? Evidence from plant-level data," Research in Labor Economics, in: Jobs, Training, and Worker Well-being, pages 155-187, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    22. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Jagadeesh Gokhale, 1992. "Estimating a Firm's Age-Productivity Profile Using the Present Value of Workers' Earnings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1215-1242.
    23. Mengistae, Taye, 1999. "The relative effects of skill formation and job matching on wage growth in Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2104, The World Bank.
    24. Parent, Daniel, 1996. "Survol des contributions théoriques et empiriques liées au capital humain," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 72(3), pages 315-356, septembre.
    25. Björklund, Anders & Åkerman, Jeanette, 1989. "Piece-Rates, On-the-Job Training and the Wage-Tenure Profile," Working Paper Series 246, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2056. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.