The Employment and Output Effects of Short-Time Work in Germany / Russell Cooper, Moritz Meyer, Immo Schott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, Russell.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Meyer, Moritz.

Schott, Immo.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w23688.

NBER working paper series no. w23688

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2017.

Summary:

We study the employment and output effects of the short-time work (STW) policy in Germany between 2009 and 2010. This intervention facilitated reductions in hours worked per employee with the goal of preventing layoffs. Using confidential German micro-level data we estimate a search model with heterogeneous multi-worker firms as a basis for policy analysis. Our findings suggest that STW can prevent increases in unemployment during a recession. However, the policy leads to a decrease in the allocative efficiency of the labor market, resulting in significant output losses. These effects arise from a reduction in the vacancy filling rate resulting from the policy intervention.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2017.