Not Working at Work: Loafing, Unemployment and Labor Productivity

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 9095

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
• Subject: time use ; non-work ; loafing ; shirking ; efficiency wage ; labor productivity

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Burda, Michael C. ; Genadek, Katie R. ; Hamermesh, Daniel S.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/111547
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET