Workdays, Workhours, and Work Schedules: Evidence for the United States and Germany

Daniel S. Hamermesh presents the first comprehensive evidence explaining how days of work, hours of work, and daily schedules are determined in the U.S. and Germany. Using an instantaneous approach to looking at unique data sets for each country, Hamermesh provides comparative analyses on factors influencing both employees' and employers' work schedules. This technique allows him to offer a new "snapshot" perspective on work scheduling that clarifies the role of fixed costs of getting to work and of adding workdays to plant schedules.