Shiftwork, Capital Hours and Productivity Change

This volume deals with shiftwork - work that is performed outside of normal daytime hours. Shiftwork is a characteristic of economic life in the United States and abroad and has increased in importance over the years. It describes fixed capital, specifically, changes in weekly hours worked by capital over long periods of time, and the significance of those changes in the measurement of long-run productivity change. The text focuses upon empirical research: it describes the data that opened possibilities for substantiation, shows the progressive nature of the subsequent research, and ultimately brings that research to bear on a number of issues that are in the forefront of public discussion. Making use of multifactor productivity statistics published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for detailed (two-digit) manufacturing industries, the author analyzes industry productivity change from the 1920s to the 1980s.