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Labour Costs (labour + cost)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	90%

Selected Abstracts

Funding a PAYG pension system: the case of Italy

FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2001
Lorenzo Forni
Abstract Italy is characterised by a mature pay-as-you-go social security system and by particularly adverse population projections. Given these trends, the social security contribution rate is expected to increase above its current high level. This hinders the development of employer-provided pension funds and introduces a significant wedge between labour cost and earnings that discourages both labour demand and labour supply. Any proposal to reduce payroll taxes and to reform the system in the direction of partial funding has to cope with the state of Italian public finances. Italy has to comply with the Stability and Growth Pact that imposes constraints on budget deficit and debt trends. Using micro data from the Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth and official population projections, we estimate future employment trends under different demographic and macroeconomic scenarios and compute the cost of the transition. We show that it would be substantially reduced if positive effects on employment were induced by the payroll tax reduction. [source]

Capital deepening and wage differentials: Germany versus US

ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 49 2007
Winfried Koeniger
SUMMARY Wage inequality, investment and skills In flexible labour markets, capital increases the productivity of skilled workers more than that of unskilled workers, and in the US faster investment is associated with wider wage inequality. But labour market institutions that keep unskilled workers' wages high also imply that firms may find it profitable to invest so as to boost those workers' productivity. Our empirical analysis based on industry-level data confirms that a higher capital intensity in Germany is associated with smaller wage differentials and with a larger share of unskilled workers in the labour costs. Changes in capital,labour ratios during the 1980s reduced wage differentials by 5,8% in German industries, while in the US capital deepening in such industries as machinery and retail was accompanied by an increase of wage differentials larger than 7%. , Winfried Koeniger and Marco Leonardi [source]

Unemployment, growth and taxation in industrial countries

ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 30 2000
Francesco Daveri
To the layman, the upward trend in European unemployment is related to the slowdown of economic growth. We argue that the layman's view is correct. The increase in European unemployment and the slowdown in economic growth are related, because they stem from a common cause: an excessively rapid growth in the cost of labour. In Europe, labour costs have gone up for many reasons, but one is particularly easy to identify: higher taxes on labour. If wages are set by strong and decentralized trade unions, an increase in labour taxes is shifted onto higher real wages. This has two effects. First, it reduces labour demand, and thus creates unemployment. Secondly, as firms substitute capital for labour, the marginal product of capital falls; over long periods of time, this in turn diminishes the incentive to invest and to grow. The data strongly support this view. According to our estimates, the observed rise of 14 percentage points in labour tax rates between 1965 and 1995 in the EU could account for a rise in EU unemployment of roughly 4 percentage points, a reduction of the investment share of output of about 3 percentage points, and a growth slowdown of about 0.4 percentage points a year. [source]

Post-merger strategy and performance: evidence from the US and European banking industries

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 4 2009
Jens Hagendorff
G21; G34; G28 Abstract The banking industry has one of the most active markets for mergers and acquisitions. However, little is known about the type of operational strategies adopted by banking firms in the years following a deal. For a sample of bidding banks in the USA and Europe, this study compares the design and performance implications of different post-merger strategies in both geographical regions. Using accounting data, we show that European banks pursue a cost-cutting strategy by increasing efficiency levels vis-à-vis non-merging banks and by cutting back on both labour costs and lending activities. US banks, on the other hand, raise both interest and non-interest income in the post-merger period. [source]

The French food-processing model: High relative wages and high work intensity

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
Ève CAROLI
Abstract. The authors examine wages and working conditions in meat processing and confectionery in France. Working there may not require much skill, or command good wages and working conditions, but this article reveals a more complex, positive situation than expected, thanks to the "French model's" national minimum wage and the extension of collective wage agreements to all workers in the sector. But pressures to lower labour costs are still felt, and the firms examined must meet pressures to increase productivity, flexibility and automation. Moreover, retail chains also seek to lower prices and impose just-in-time production. [source]

Zukunft der Arbeit und Arbeit der Zukunft in Deutschland

PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 2 2006
Carsten Ochsen
The main finding is that the reduction of the labour costs cannot reduce the aggregated unemployment rate substantially. An important conclusion is that the skill upgrading of the labour force is slower than that of labour demand. The future of work in Germany lies not in low paid low skilled jobs, but in high(er) skilled occupation. [source]

How important is employment protection legislation for Foreign Direct Investment flows in Central and Eastern European countries?1

THE ECONOMICS OF TRANSITION, Issue 2 2009
Markus Leibrecht
Foreign Direct Investment; Central and Eastern Europe; labour market; employment protection Abstract In this article we investigate empirically the importance of labour market conditions and in particular the role of employment protection legislation as determinants of bilateral Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). We find that FDI flows are significantly higher in countries with relatively low unit labour costs. We also find that employment protection legislation does not exert a statistically significant impact on FDI flows. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that transition economies attract FDI via low production costs whereas indirect costs related to the rigidity of the labour market are less relevant. [source]

Labour Market Regimes and Worker Recruitment and Retention in the European Union: Plant Comparisons

BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2001
Jane Morton
We analyse worker recruitment and retention outcomes, contrasting production worker skill profiles in the UK subsidiaries of five multinationals with, in each case, a matched plant in another EU state. From personnel records we build up plant distributions of worker pay, age, schooling, prior experience and tenure. We find evidence of local management discretion, with differences in unit labour costs and in recruitment/retention outcomes between the matched subsidiaries. UK plants have a ,hire and fire' environment and a less skilled worker mix. Such outcomes can be linked to the UK's lower labour costs and less regulated labour market. [source]

The Economics of Teams among Technicians

BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2001
Rosemary Batt
This paper examines the economic logic of organizing field technicians into self-managed teams, an approach to work organization that shifts the division of labour from a hierarchical to horizontal one. Economic efficiencies arise through the integration of direct and indirect labour tasks and the alignment of'the organizational structure with the occupational logic of communities of practice among technicians. Self-managed teams absorb the monitoring and co-ordination tasks of supervisors, substantially reducing indirect labour costs but without adversely affecting objective measures of quality and labour productivity. For technicians, team membership means longer work hours, but higher wages through overtime pay. [source]

Low-cost laparoscopic cholecystectomy

BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY (NOW INCLUDES EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY), Issue 12 2002
A. Champault
Background: Hospital managers are continually trying to decrease the cost of patient care. The aim of this prospective study was to propose changes that would decrease the operating room costs of laparoscopic cholecystectomy without affecting clinical results. Methods: The study included 112 consecutive patients who underwent an elective cholecystectomy between January 1997 and December 2000. The procedure was changed in eight ways: the American position, open laparoscopy, reusable trocars, reusable instruments, bipolar coagulation of the cystic artery, intracorporeal ligature of the cystic duct, no use of suction lavage apparatus, and use of a surgical glove as a bag to extract the gallbladder. Complete compliance with the procedure, whether any abnormal operative events or complications occurred, the duration of hospitalization, and the material and labour costs of the procedure were recorded. Results: There were no abnormal operative events. Only two patients suffered from postoperative complications. The mean duration of hospitalization was 55·8 h. Fifteen patients (13·4 per cent) were not hospitalized overnight. The operating costs fell from 560 euros before the study to 330 euros in 2000. Conclusion: By applying simple measures, it is possible to decrease the operating room cost of laparoscopic cholecystectomy whilst maintaining good results. Such measures should be applied to other laparoscopic procedures. © 2002 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd [source]