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Worker's compensation and state employment growth

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Author Info
Kelly Edmiston

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Abstract

Workers’ Compensation reforms have been on the table in virtually every state over the last several years, and many states have launched comprehensive reforms. At least nine states undertook major reforms of their workers’ compensation systems in 2004 alone, and the reforms were driven largely by claims that higher workers’ compensation costs are driving away businesses and the employment that comes with them. Given the nearly universal assertion by promoters of workers’ compensation reforms that high cost states lose jobs to relatively low cost states, one would expect that substantial research exists to back up the claims. In fact, however, although a voluminous literature exists that explores behavioral aspects of workers’ compensation insurance, including effects on injury rates, number of claims, and duration of claims, there has been no systematic study of the relationship between workers’ compensation costs and economic growth. This paper sets out to help fill the intellectual void by examining the relationship between workers’ compensation costs and employment growth across U.S. states from 1976 – 2000. Workers’ compensation costs are found to have a statistically significant negative impact on employment and wages, but the elasticities are very small, suggesting that workers’ compensation costs are not a likely cause of jobs woes in most states.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in its series Community Affairs Research Working Paper with number 2005-04.

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Date of creation: 2005
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedkcw:2005-04

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Keywords: Employment;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  7. Brown, James N & Ashenfelter, Orley, 1986. "Testing the Efficiency of Employment Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages S40-S87, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Krueger, Alan B. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2002. "Labor supply effects of social insurance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 33, pages 2327-2392 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Viscusi, W Kip & Moore, Michael J, 1987. "Workers' Compensation: Wage Effects, Benefit Inadequacies, and the Value of Health Losses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(2), pages 249-61, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Fortin, Bernard & Lanoie, Paul, 1992. "Substitution between unemployment insurance and workers' compensation : An analysis applied to the risk of workplace accidents," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 287-312, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Frank Neuhauser & Steven Raphael, 2004. "The Effect of an Increase in Worker's Compensation Benefits on the Duration and Frequency of Benefit Receipt," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 288-302, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Lawrence F. Katz & Bruce D. Meyer, 1990. "The Impact of the Potential Duration of Unemployment Benefits on the Duration of Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 2741, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Michele Campolieti & Harry A. Krashinsky, 2003. "Substitution Between Disability Support Programs in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 29(4), pages 417-429, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  28. Fishback, Price V & Kantor, Shawn Everett, 1995. "Did Workers Pay for the Passage of Workers' Compensation Laws?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 713-42, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  29. Michael J. Moore & W. Kip Viscusi, 1989. "Promoting Safety through Workers' Compensation: The Efficacy and Net Wage Costs of Injury Insurance," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(4), pages 499-515, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  31. Bruce D. Meyer, 1989. "A Quasi-Experimental Approach to the Effects of Unemployment Insurance," NBER Working Papers 3159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto & Robert K. Triest & Natalia A. Zhivan, 2008. "How Much Do State Economics and Other Characteristics Affect Retirement Behavior?," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2008-12, Center for Retirement Research, revised Sep 2008. [Downloadable!]
  2. Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto & Natalia A. Zhivan, 2008. "Why Do More Older Men Work in Some States?," Issues in Brief ib2008-8-6, Center for Retirement Research, revised Aug 2008. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto & Robert K. Triest & Natalia A. Zhivan, 2008. "Do State Economics or Individual Characteristics Determine Whether Older Men Work?," Issues in Brief ib2008-8-13, Center for Retirement Research, revised Sep 2008. [Downloadable!]
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