Employment Adjustment versus Hours Adjustment: Is Job Security Desirable?

Firms can adjust to shocks by laying off and hiring workers or by adjusting the hours worked by each worker. Adjustment of hours provides job security for employed workers. Adjustment of employment generates higher labor market turnover and, thus, better job prospects for the unemployed. Since high turnover lowers the expected cost of being laid off by reducing the expected duration of unemployment, there is a strategic complementarity between firms in the provision of job security. This gives the possibility of multiple equilibria with different amounts of turnover. Copyright 1995 by The London School of Economics and Political Science.