TEACHING TOOLS: WHY WORKERS SHOULD WANT MANDATED BENEFITS TO LOWER THEIR WAGES

Mandating that employers provide job-related benefits is not a free lunch for employees. Despite the claims of some advocates of mandated benofts, economists have long recognized that much of the cost of those benefifs is passed on to employees in lower wages. What has gone unrecognized is that the more employees pay fir a mandated bentefit relative to its cost the more they gain from having the benefit provided.