The Impact of the Overtime Premium on Employment and Hours in U.S. Industry

Do labor costs affect companies’ demand for labor?

“…The evidence makes it very clear that these laws are effective in inducing employers to introduce shorter workweeks and to avoid long workdays (see imposing the 40-hour workweek in the US in the 1940s) [6], [7], [9]. Although it is not clear how much they do spread work (i.e.…”

“…But a rise in the fixed costs of labor increases the cost of an extra worker relative to that of an extra hour per worker. Because of that, imposing a per-worker tax causes employers to hire fewer workers and to extend the hours of existing workers [6], [7].…”

Monitoring, Grievances, and Plant Performance

“…In this case, as with most firms, the price of "corporate culture" is embedded in the establishment of its philosophy of management. Ehrenberg (1971) shows that H is also a function of the wage. However, the firm in a labor market is assumed to be a price taker, with only quantity determined by demand.…”

The Effect of Employer Health Insurance Offering on the Growth and Survival of Small Business Prior to the Affordable Care Act

“…Similar difficulties have been faced in the pension literature and an alternative explanation borrowed from that literature is that while employees may be willing to accept wage reductions for more generous insurance packages, they would not be sympathetic to the idea of lowering their wages to offset higher administrative costs faced by the employing firm -and these costs are a major component of the total cost of insurance faced by particularly small employers. This would potentially drive a wedge 92 Leibowitz (1983), Ehrenberg (1971), Buchmueller and Lettau (1997), Olson (1992), Miller (1995), Ryan (1997) between the costs paid by the firm for health insurance and the wage reduction accepted in the labor market.…”