The importance and challenges of measuring work hours

Artikel

Work hours are key components in estimating productivity growth and hourly wages as well as being a useful cyclical indicator in their own right, so measuring them correctly is important. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects data on work hours in several surveys and publishes four widely used series that measure average weekly hours. The series tell different stories about average weekly hours and trends in those hours but qualitatively similar stories about the cyclical behavior of work hours. The research summarized here explains the differences in levels, but only some of the differences in trends.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: IZA World of Labor ; ISSN: 2054-9571 ; Year: 2019 ; Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access ; Macroeconomics: Production
• Subject: hours of work ; household surveys ; establishment surveys ; time-use surveys ; productivity ; hourly wages

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Stewart, Jay
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.15185/izawol.95.v2
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/206587
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET