Has the character of adjustment of labor input in the US manufacturing sector been changing over the last few decades? This question is addressed with time‐series estimation using data through 2001. Impulse responses of employment and average weekly hours to a given shock in output demand are...

The intensity of use of overtime hours has risen markedly since the early 1990s. Recent research suggests that there has been a structural break in manufacturing productivity beginning in the 1990s in the US. This paper investigates how a given increase or decrease in hours - measured here as...

Employment in the temporary help supply (THS) industry more than tripled in the U.S. between 1982 and 1992. During that period, the variability and cyclical sensitivity of THS jobs, their average weekly hours and real hourly earnings were extraordinarily high. In addition, changes in temporary...