The Timing of Labor Demand

Merging several data sets from Portugal from 1986-2004 with a cross-section on the same firms for 003 that gives information on work timing, we describe temporal patterns of firms’ demand for labor and estimate production functions. The results demonstrate the existence of substitution of employment across times of the day/week and imply that legislated penalties for work at irregular hours induce firms to alter their operating schedules. They suggest that policies that shift the timing of hours of work can explain some of the difference in work timing between Europe and the U.S.