Article

Cyclical labor costs within jobs

Details

Citation

Schaefer D & Singleton C (2019) Cyclical labor costs within jobs. European Economic Review, 120, Art. No.: 103317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2019.103317

Abstract
Using UK employer-employee panel data, we present novel facts on how wages and working hours respond to the business cycle within jobs. Firms reacted to the Great Recession with substantial real wage cuts and by recruiting more part-time workers. A one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate led to an average decline in real hourly wages of 2.6% for new hires as well as for job stayers. Hiring hours worked were substantially procyclical, while job-stayer hours were acyclical. These results show that real wages are not rigid and that the labor costs of new hires are especially flexible.

Keywords
Wage rigidity; Great recession; Hours worked; Job-level analysis

Journal
European Economic Review: Volume 120

StatusPublished
FundersEconomic and Social Research Council
Publication date30/11/2019
Publication date online25/09/2019
Date accepted by journal18/09/2019
PublisherElsevier BV
ISSN0014-2921
eISSN1873-572X

People (1)

Dr Carl Singleton

Dr Carl Singleton

Senior Lecturer in Economics, Economics