Occupational Social Value and Returns to Long Hours

No 19-5, UNCG Economics Working Papers from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines the phenomenon of uncompensated long hours in jobs with pro-social characteristics and presents evidence that long-hour wage premiums and occupational social value are substitutes in compensating salaried workers who supply hours exceeding the standard workweek. I show that the social value of an occupation, in particular the degree to which jobs involve helping or providing service to others, is inversely related to long-hour pay. Allowing for heterogeneity in the degree to which workers value their job's helping orientation allows me to explore how gender differences in employees' attitudes toward pro-social behavior can explain some of the observed occupational sorting trends and gender differences in long-hour compensation. Women tend to be more strongly drawn to "helping" occupations and at the same time receive lower long-hour premiums in these jobs relative to men. I offer a theoretical framework to rationalize the empirical trends.

Keywords: job characteristics; return to long hours; occupational choice; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2019-03-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-lab and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Occupational Social Value and Returns to Long Hours (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:uncgec:2019_005

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