An Empirical Analysis of Working-Hours Constraints in Twenty-one Countries
Journal
Review of Social Economy
ISSN
0034-6764
ISSN-Digital
1470-1162
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2002-06-01
Author(s)
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze working-hour constraints in an international setting. We use data from the latest Work Orientations data set of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The survey was conducted in 1997 and, in this paper, data for twenty-one countries are used. Our main results are: (1) In most countries the majority of workers do not face hours constraints; (2) Of the workers that are constrained, the largest portion is underemployed. Only in Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland is this not the case; (3) Workers in the five Eastern European countries considered here are among the most constrained; (4) A comparison with the 1989 ISSP data set reveals that hours constraints have increased in Israel, the United States, and West Germany and decreased in Great Britain and Norway in the 1990s; (5) GDP per capita and unemployment levels are correlated with hours constraints; (6) A multivariate analysis shows that certain socio-demographic characteristics and work conditions influence hours constraints and that these factors differ across countries.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
Marquette University
Publisher place
Milwaukee, Wis.
Volume
60
Number
2
Start page
209
End page
242
Pages
34
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
871