Title

Effects of the Legal Minimum Working Time on Workers, Firms and the Labor Market

Author(s)

Pauline Carry Pauline Carry (Princeton University)

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of working time regulations on the allocation of workers and hours. I exploit a unique reform introducing a minimum workweek of 24 hours in France in 2014, affecting 15% of jobs. Drawing on administrative data and an event study design, I find a firm-level reduction in total hours worked, showing imperfect substitutability between workers and hours. The effects differ by gender: women working part-time were replaced by men working longer hours. Importantly, workers also reallocate between firms. To quantify the aggregate impact accounting for these effects, I build and estimate a search and matching model with firm and worker heterogeneity. Overall, the minimum workweek reduced employment by 1.4%, largely driven by women, and decreased total hours by 0.5%.

Creation Date

2026-03

Section URL ID

Paper Number

665

URL

https://irs.princeton.edu/publications/working-papers/665

File Function

Jel

J08, J23, J41, E24

Keyword(s)

France

Suppress

false

Series

1