ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a few selected topics in labor law. It provides economic analysis of different kinds of legislation claimed by their proponents to protect or benefit workers. The chapter examines the economic effects of minimum wage legislation, and also considers wage controls, a price ceiling. There are various laws that are designed to protect workers from layoffs or termination. Some laws give employees the right to challenge their dismissal in a formal legal setting. Some laws require employers to wait for some period of time, or give advance notice to some third party if they wish to close a plant, thereby eliminating jobs, or lay off a group of workers. Labor economists would generally respond that differences in wages are often attributable to factors other than discrimination, such as the worker’s level of education, region, age, years of work experience, union status, restrictions on entry into the profession, compensating differentials for working conditions, and the like.
