A Study of Labor Force Productivity Fluctuations in Business Cycles of Iran

The subject of labor force productivity changes during business cycles has been the focus of much debate among macroeconomics, which has gained less attention among studies focusing on Iranian Economy. In the study, we have aimed at empirically examining the role that labor force productivity fluctuations play during economic cycles in the Iran using time-series data for the period of 2005Q2-2015Q1 by applying an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. In order to estimate relations, we have separated fluctuation and trend components based on Hodrick-Prescott filter. Based on our results, it is suggested that labor force productivity moves in alignment with GDP and increases in expansion periods and decreases in recession periods which indicate pro-cyclical behavior of labor force productivity in Iranian Economy. Second, in the last seasons of an expansion period, the role of labor force productivity fluctuations decreases in gross domestic product fluctuations which is along with the theory.