Hours and employment over the business cycle: A structural analysis

Abstract

We conduct Bayesian inference on a quantitative business-cycle model with search-and-matching frictions and a neoclassical hours-supply decision. Likelihood maximization with both U.S. macroeconomic and labor data shows the model cannot jointly reproduce the comovement of the labor margins with themselves and with macro data. A parsimonious set of features reconciles the model with the data: non-separable preferences with parametrized wealth effects and costly hours adjustment. The model offers a structural explanation for the observed time-varying comovement between the labor margins, being either positive or negative, across post-war U.S. recessions and recoveries. Moreover, the estimated model shows adjustment in the intensive margin contributes up to half the dynamics of total hours in these episodes, as intensive-margin adjustments increase employment losses during recessions and delay employment recoveries.