Job Safety

Job Safety: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics | Library of Economics and Liberty:



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Perché mai i datori di lavoro non dovrebbero avere un incentivo a diminuire gli incidenti sul lavoro visto che è acclarato che i lavoratori chiedono un premio per svolgere i lavori più rischiosi?



Many people believe that employers do not care about workplace safety. If the government were not regulating job safety, they contend, workplaces would be unsafe. In fact, employers have many incentives to make workplaces safe. Since the time of Adam Smith, economists have observed that workers demand "compensating differentials" (i.e., wage premiums) for the risks they face. The extra pay for job hazards, in effect, establishes the price employers must pay for an unsafe workplace. Wage premiums paid to U.S. workers for risking injury are huge; they amount to about $245 billion annually (in 2004 dollars), more than 2 percent of the gross domestic product and 5 percent of total wages paid. These wage premiums give firms an incentive to invest in job safety because an employer who makes the workplace safer can reduce the wages he pays.