Economics Research International

Research Article

Working the Night Shift: The Impact of Compensating Wages and Local Economic Conditions on Shift Choice

Table 5

Average shift differentials by worker characteristic.
 Shift differential
Full sample−0.136
Union −0.070
Nonunion−0.149
Male−0.202
Female −0.069
Married−0.150
Nonmarried−0.060
White−0.128
Nonwhite−0.191
Non-high school graduate−0.020
High school graduate−0.008
Associate’s degree−0.081
College graduate−0.336
Source: author’s calculations, May 2001 CPS [13]. The shift differential is measured in log points and is calculated as the difference between the log night hourly wage and the day log hourly wage. The differentials in the table are the predicted shift premiums averaged for all workers with those characteristics. High school graduates are those with a minimum of twelve years of school. Due to the similarity of results for the model using the coincident index and the unemployment rate, only the differentials calculated using the coincident index are shown.