Using information on Japanese, UK, and German workers work hour and matched firms characteristics, this paper investigates whether the number of hours worked is determined by demand-side factors, and tries to introduce one possibility to explain why Japanese tend to work longer hours than...

This paper exploits a unique cross-country, firm-level survey to study the responses of European firms to the sharp demand and credit contraction triggered by the global Great Recession of 2009. The analysis reveals that cost reduction-particularly labour cost reduction through the adjustment of...

Using Canadian linked employer-employee data covering the period 1999-2005, I examine the determinants of the availability of family-friendly "care" practices and the impact of such practices on wages. The results show that the provision of family-friendly practices is not mainly derived from...

This paper examines the role of non-wage cost rigidities in slowing down employment creation by assessing the effect of a policy aimed at fostering employment for women and young men introduced in Turkey in 2008. Exploiting a difference-in-difference-in differences strategy, I assess the...

The data indicate that non-wage labour costs in Germany have reached a record high in recent years. From 1972 to 2001, the ratio of non-wage labour costs to direct compensation in West German manufacturing industry rose from 55.6 per cent to 81.2 per cent. The topic of non-wage labour costs is...

The rarity with which firms reduce nominal wages has been frequently observed, even in the face of considerable negative economic shocks. This paper uses a unique survey of fourteen European countries to ask firms directly about the incidence of wage cuts and to assess the relevance of a range...

Following an old economic literature dealing with work sharing, the aim of this paper is to review the theoretical effects on unemployment and inequality we may expect from a working time reduction (WTR). To do so, we begin considering labour demand models and we go through general equilibrium...

This paper examines the endogeneity of several structural variables which enter unemployment rate equations--the generosity of unemployment benefits, nonwage labor costs, the relative minimum wage, and the degree of unionization. It finds evidence of reverse causality for these structural...

Using Canadian linked employer-employee data covering the period 1999-2005, I examine the determinants of the availability of family-friendly "care" practices and the impact of such practices on wages. The results show that the provision of family-friendly practices is not mainly derived from...