American Economic Journal:
Macroeconomics
ISSN 1945-7707 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7715 (Online)
Labor Market Effects of Workweek Restrictions: Evidence from the Great Depression
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
vol. 16,
no. 4, October 2024
(pp. 77–113)
Abstract
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.Citation
Fishback, Price, Chris Vickers, and Nicolas L. Ziebarth. 2024. "Labor Market Effects of Workweek Restrictions: Evidence from the Great Depression." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 16 (4): 77–113. DOI: 10.1257/mac.20220188Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E24 Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- N12 Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
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