Labor Market Effects of Workweek Restrictions: Evidence from the Great Depression
Fishback, Price
Labor Market Effects of Workweek Restrictions: Evidence from the Great Depression - American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 2024 - 77-113
We study the effects of restrictions on the length of the workweek under the President's Reemployment Agreement (PRA) of July 1933 and the National Industrial Recovery Act. We construct a model in which the equilibrium without such a workweek restriction has an inefficiently low level of employment. We find that employment rose by about 24 percent in the month following the imposition of the workweek restriction. Industries with longer workweeks pre-PRA experienced 9.4 percent faster growth in hourly earnings post-PRA, but this increase was not sufficient to prevent a relative fall in weekly earnings in these industries.
1945-7707
Aggregate Labor Productivity
Labor and Consumers
Religion and Philanthropy
Time Allocation and Labor Supply
Unemployment
Demography
Labor Market Effects of Workweek Restrictions: Evidence from the Great Depression - American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 2024 - 77-113
We study the effects of restrictions on the length of the workweek under the President's Reemployment Agreement (PRA) of July 1933 and the National Industrial Recovery Act. We construct a model in which the equilibrium without such a workweek restriction has an inefficiently low level of employment. We find that employment rose by about 24 percent in the month following the imposition of the workweek restriction. Industries with longer workweeks pre-PRA experienced 9.4 percent faster growth in hourly earnings post-PRA, but this increase was not sufficient to prevent a relative fall in weekly earnings in these industries.
1945-7707
Aggregate Labor Productivity
Labor and Consumers
Religion and Philanthropy
Time Allocation and Labor Supply
Unemployment
Demography