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The cyclical and secular behaviour of the labour input: Comparing efficiency units and hours worked
Author(s) -
Hanse G. D.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of applied econometrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.878
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1099-1255
pISSN - 0883-7252
DOI - 10.1002/jae.3950080106
Subject(s) - earnings , per capita , secular variation , series (stratigraphy) , economics , econometrics , demographic economics , mathematics , statistics , labour economics , demography , population , finance , biology , paleontology , sociology
A monthly labour input series designed to correct for the fact that all hours worked are not of the same quality is constructed and its properties compared with unadjusted hours worked. This efficiency units series is constructed from BLS data on hours worked and earnings by age and sex. The cyclical fluctuations displayed by the efficiency units series are smaller on average than those displayed by hours worked, although the difference is not large. However, the secular behaviour of the series is quite different: hours worked per capita displays a significant positive trend while efficiency units per capita does not.