Demand for labour inputs and adjustment costs : evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms

Abstract

This paper examines the structure of the adjustment costs for heterogeneous labour inputs, allowing for asyrnmetries and for interaction effects in adjustment costs. To do this, an intertemporal model underlying firm's employment decisions is postulated, and the resulting Euler equations for the demands of permanent nonproduction (white collar) and production (blue collar) employees are estimated using a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. The main results confirm the heterogeneity of adjustment costs for permanent employees, and the existence of significant cross-adjustment effects. This latter result implies that marginal adjustment costs from firing permanent production employees can be reduced if temporary workers are hired at the same time. However, there is not significant evidence of asyrnmetric adjustment costs in permanent labour inputs.