John Pencavel -- Changes in Male Work Behavior and Wages

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Abstract

February 1997

This paper documents the changes from 1975 to 1994 in four dimensions of male work behavior: weekly hours, annual weeks, annual hours, and the employment-population ratio. While employment-population ratios have fallen, hours have risen for high wage workers and have fallen for low wage workers. Special effort is directed to the measuring the relationship between wages and work and we document a robust positive wage-work relationship. White and Black men reveal similar wage-elasticities of hours and weeks, but Black employment is two-thirds more responsive to wages than White employment.