| With the rising number of dual income earner families (from 25,656,000 in 1992 to 28,422,000 in 1997) and single parent families (from 8,464,000 in 1992 to 9,368,000 in 1997 [BLS, 1994 and 1998]), adults realize great time pressures which may result in individuals increasing their absenteeism. This paper suggests that the assumptions taken in previous studies are restrictive and limit the explanatory power of the work. The assumption has been either (1) workers are only absent to engage in leisure; or (2) that aggregating the various types of absences will not have adverse effects on the empirical results. Here, it is argued that empirical work on absenteeism should reflect a bifurcation of the total days absent into time that is allocated to additional leisure and time allocated to nonmarket labor activity.;This study finds support for the hypothesis suggesting that absenteeism results from individuals consuming additional leisure and from individuals reallocation time away from market work to nonmarket work. The study finds that teachers with higher marginal wages, not higher salaries, are absent fewer days. Also, teachers are absent more often when their principals were more understanding of the family needs of the teachers. Also, teachers with greater teaching loads are absent more often. |
