Working time accounts are essentially bookkeeping tools that allow firms to smooth their demand for hours employed. Descriptive literature suggests that working time accounts can reduce layoffs and inhibit increases in unemployment during recessions. In a model of optimal labor demand, I show that working time accounts do not necessarily guarantee fewer layoffs at the firm level. Layoffs can fall or rise depending on whether a firm meets an economic downturn with a surplus or a deficit of hours, and on how productive the firm is. On aggregate and in expected terms, however, working time accounts reduce job destruction.

中文翻译：

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工作时间账户和营业额*

工作时间账户本质上是一种簿记工具，可让公司平滑其对工作时间的需求。描述性文献表明，工作时间账户可以减少裁员并抑制经济衰退期间失业率的增加。在最优劳动力需求模型中，我表明工作时间账户不一定保证公司层面的裁员更少。裁员可能会减少或增加，这取决于公司是否遇到经济衰退，工时盈余或赤字，以及公司的生产力。然而，从总体上和预期的角度来看，工作时间账户减少了对工作的破坏。