各行业受雇员工每人每月均薪资.pptVIP

Compensating Wage Differentials The model of competitive labor markets implies that as long as workers or firms can freely enter and exit the marketplace, there will be a single wage in the economy if all jobs are alike and all workers are alike. All jobs are not the same. Adam Smith in 1776 argued that compensating wage differentials arise to compensate workers for the nonwage characteristics of jobs. It is not the wage that is equated across jobs in a competitive market, but the “whole of the advantages and disadvantages” of the job. Workers differ in their preferences for job characteristics and firms differ in the working conditions that they offer. The theory of compensating differentials tells a story of how workers and firms “match and mate” in the labor market. 1. Workers’ and Firms’ Choice with Risky Jobs E.g. Employer X: NT.$100 per hour, clean, safe work conditions Employer Y: NT.$100 per hour, dirty, noisy factory → Most workers would undoubtedly choose employer X. If employer Y decides not to alter working conditions, it must pay wage above NT.$100 to be competitive in the labor market. → The extra wage it must pay to attract workers is called a compensating wage differential because the higher wage is paid to compensate workers for the undesirable working conditions. After the wage rise of firm Y, if both firms could obtain the quantity and quality of works they wanted, the wage differential would be an equilibrium differential, in the sense that there be no forces causing the differential to change. * The compensating wage differential serves two purposes: It serves a social need by giving people an incentive to voluntarily do dirty, dangerous, or unpleasant work or a financial penalty on employers offering unfavorable working conditions. At an individual level, it serves as a reward to workers who accept unpleasant jobs by paying them more than comparable workers in more pleasant jobs. Those who opt for more pleasant conditions