Costs and Losses of Labor: Macroeconomic and Industry Analysis

Abstract— The article is devoted to the analysis of costs and losses of worked working time in macroeconomic and industrial contexts. The main categories of labor costs are analyzed, such as working hours worked at the main and additional jobs; time worked in households in connection with the production of goods for sale and personal use. The main conclusion drawn from the statistical analysis is that the dynamics of working time expenditure is more susceptible to the influence of the economic situation than the average annual number of people employed. In particular, during the period of decline in GDP (in 2015 and 2022) labor costs in the main or only job increased in proportion to the decrease in wages (income) of the population. A reduction in wages across the economy as a whole becomes possible if a significant number of underemployed workers (hidden unemployment) remains in production; the level of underemployment increases over time. Since statistics on hours worked more accurately reflect labor costs than the average annual number of employed people, the dynamics of labor productivity calculated using data on hours worked indicate a more significant decline in the efficiency of labor resource use during periods of crisis. An analysis of industry-specific losses of working time per job indicates that a significant portion of these losses are generated as part of compensation for low incomes (wages) and the standard of living of the population. The technical equipment and quality characteristics of the workplace also influence the amount of losses.