IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iza/izawol/journl2021n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do labor costs affect companies’ demand for labor?

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel S. Hamermesh

    (Barnard College, USA, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Higher labor costs (higher wage rates and employee benefits) make workers better off, but they can reduce companies’ profits, the number of jobs, and the hours each person works. The minimum wage, overtime pay, payroll taxes, and hiring subsidies are just a few of the policies that affect labor costs. Policies that increase labor costs can substantially affect both employment and hours, in individual companies as well as in the overall economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2021. "Do labor costs affect companies’ demand for labor?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-3, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:2021:n:3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/3/pdfs/do-labor-costs-affect-companies-demand-for-labor.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://wol.iza.org/articles/do-labor-costs-affect-companies-demand-for-labor
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Neumark & William L. Wascher, 2008. "Minimum Wages," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262141027, December.
    2. Adriana Kugler & Maurice Kugler, 2009. "Labor Market Effects of Payroll Taxes in Developing Countries: Evidence from Colombia," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 335-358, January.
    3. Dora L. Costa, 2000. "Hours of Work and the Fair Labor Standards Act: A Study of Retail and Wholesale Trade, 1938–1950," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(4), pages 648-664, July.
    4. Ana Rute Cardoso & Daniel S. Hamermesh & José Varejao, 2012. "The Timing of Labor Demand," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 105-106, pages 15-34.
    5. Angrist, Joshua D, 1996. "Short-Run Demand for Palestinian Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 425-453, July.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & David H. Autor & David Lyle, 2004. "Women, War, and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Midcentury," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 497-551, June.
    7. repec:adr:anecst:y:2012:i:105-106:p:2 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Stephen J. Trejo, 2000. "The Demand for Hours of Labor: Direct Evidence from California," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 38-47, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cahuc, Pierre & Kramarz, Francis & Nevoux, Sandra, 2021. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Short-Time Work: From Saved Jobs to Windfall Effects," CEPR Discussion Papers 16168, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4bckbd1dtk8jdp1dnjedlgofe2 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Arni, Patrick & Eichhorst, Werner & Spermann, Alexander & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2014. "Mindestlohnevaluation jetzt und nicht erst 2020," IZA Standpunkte 70, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Alexander Karsay, 2021. "Fates of indebted households during the Corona crisis: Survey results from Slovakia," Working and Discussion Papers WP 1/2021, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    5. Pierre Cahuc & Francis Kramarz & Sandra Nevoux, 2021. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Short-Time Work: From Saved Jobs to Windfall Effects," SciencePo Working papers hal-03602410, HAL.
    6. Pierre Cahuc & Olivier Charlot & Franck Malherbet & Helène Benghalem & Emeline Limon, 2020. "Taxation of Temporary Jobs: Good Intentions with Bad Outcomes?," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(626), pages 422-445.
    7. Addison, John T. & Portugal, Pedro & Varejão, José, 2014. "Labor demand research: Toward a better match between better theory and better data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 4-11.
    8. Cahuc, Pierre & Malherbet, Franck & Prat, Julien, 2019. "The Detrimental Effect of Job Protection on Employment: Evidence from France," IZA Discussion Papers 12384, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/2ju03cb3kc9a3986bsibii70hd is not listed on IDEAS
    10. KODAMA Naomi & YOKOYAMA Izumi, 2017. "Labor Market Impact of Labor Cost Increase without Productivity Gain: A natural experiment from the 2003 social insurance premium reform in Japan," Discussion papers 17093, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2ju03cb3kc9a3986bsibii70hd is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Joachim Möller & Karl Brenke & Gert Wagner & Thorsten Schulten & Gustav Horn & Hagen Lesch & Alexander Mayer & Lisa Schmid & Patrick Arni & Werner Eichhorst & Alexander Spermann & Klaus Zimmermann, 2014. "Das Mindestlohngesetz — Hoffnungen und Befürchtungen," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 94(6), pages 387-406, June.
    13. Martin Popp, 2023. "How elastic is labor demand? A meta-analysis for the German labor market," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-21, December.
    14. Arni, Patrick & Eichhorst, Werner & Pestel, Nico & Spermann, Alexander & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2014. "Kein Mindestlohn ohne unabhängige wissenschaftliche Evaluation," IZA Standpunkte 65, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Pierre Cahuc & Stéphane Carcillo & Thomas Le Barbanchon, 2014. "Do Hiring Credits Work in Recessions?: Evidence from France," Sciences Po publications 8330, Sciences Po.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen J. Trejo, 2003. "Does the Statutory Overtime Premium Discourage Long Workweeks?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(3), pages 530-551, April.
    2. Lakshmi Iyer & Xin Meng & Nancy Qian & Xiaoxue Zhao, 2013. "Economic Transition and Private-Sector Labor Demand: Evidence from Urban China," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-047, Harvard Business School, revised Apr 2016.
    3. Joel A. Elvery & C. Lockwood Reynolds & Shawn M. Rohlin, 2023. "Employer Wage Subsidy Caps and Part-Time Work," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(1), pages 189-209, January.
    4. Leonard Goff, 2022. "Treatment Effects in Bunching Designs: The Impact of Mandatory Overtime Pay on Hours," Papers 2205.10310, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    5. John H. Johnson IV, 2003. "The Impact of Federal Overtime Legislation on Public Sector Labor Markets," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 43-69, January.
    6. Carlos Medina D. & José Escobar R., 2007. "The Effects of Changes in the Legal Work Shift on Wages and Hours Worked in Colombia," Coyuntura Social 12866, Fedesarrollo.
    7. Donal O'Neill, 2000. "Evaluating Labour Market Interventions," Economics Department Working Paper Series n990300, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    8. HASEBE Takuya & KONISHI Yoshifumi & SHIN Kong Joo & MANAGI Shunsuke, 2018. "White Collar Exemption: Panacea for long work hours and low earnings?," Discussion papers 18002, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. Quach, Simon, 2020. "The Labor Market Effects of Expanding Overtime Coverage," MPRA Paper 100613, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. KODAMA Naomi & YOKOYAMA Izumi, 2017. "Labor Market Impact of Labor Cost Increase without Productivity Gain: A natural experiment from the 2003 social insurance premium reform in Japan," Discussion papers 17093, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Gonzalez, Felipe & Prem, Mounu & von Dessauer, Cristine, 2023. "Empowerment or Indoctrination? Women Centers Under Dictatorship," SocArXiv 64mf9, Center for Open Science.
    12. Nakashima, Kiyotaka & Ogawa, Toshiaki, 2020. "The Impacts of Strengthening Regulatory Surveillance on Bank Behavior: A Dynamic Analysis from Incomplete to Complete Enforcement of Capital Regulation in Microprudential Policy," MPRA Paper 99938, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas van der Velde, 2017. "When the opportunity knocks: large structural shocks and gender wage gaps," GRAPE Working Papers 2, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    14. Kota Ogasawara & Mizuki Komura, 2022. "Consequences of war: Japan’s demographic transition and the marriage market," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1037-1069, July.
    15. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2014. "Maternal health and the baby boom," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 5, pages 225-269, July.
    16. Labanca, Claudio & Pozzoli, Dario, 2022. "Hours Constraints and Wage Differentials across Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 14992, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2003. "The labor market effects of payroll taxes in a middle-income country: evidence from Colombia," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0306, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    18. Pierre Cahuc & Stéphane Carcillo, 2014. "The Detaxation of Overtime Hours: Lessons from the French Experiment," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03460334, HAL.
    19. Cei, Leonardo & Stefani, Gianluca & Defrancesco, Edi & Lombardi, Ginevra Virginia, 2018. "Geographical indications: A first assessment of the impact on rural development in Italian NUTS3 regions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 620-630.
    20. Bennett, Patrick & Ravetti, Chiara & Wong, Po Yin, 2021. "Losing in a boom: Long-term consequences of a local economic shock for female labour market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor demand; wages; employee benefits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:2021:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.