The Demand for Youth: Explaining Age Differences in the Volatility of Hours
- (pp. 3022-44)
Abstract
Over the business cycle young workers experience much greater volatility of hours worked than prime-aged workers. This can arise from age differences in labor supply or labor demand characteristics. To distinguish between these, we document that, for young workers, both the cyclical volatilities of hours and wages are greater than those of the prime-aged. We argue that a general class of models featuring only age-specific labor supply differences cannot reconcile these facts. We then show that a simple model featuring labor demand differences can.Citation
Jaimovich, Nir, Seth Pruitt, and Henry E. Siu. 2013. "The Demand for Youth: Explaining Age Differences in the Volatility of Hours." American Economic Review, 103 (7): 3022-44. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.7.3022Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J23 Labor Demand
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials