Capsule Reviews

The tradeoff of pay versus benefits facing many workers may have far reaching ramifications in labor markets. Because of a lack of quantitative evidence, however, little is understood about the issue. This book helps to understand this worker tradeoff and is an important contribution to the literature on the economic features of employee benefits and the policy issues associated with them. With policy relevant research on the linkages between labor markets and the provision of benefits by employers and governments, this book helps to fill in some of the necessary information on the tradeoff issue. Editors William T. Alpert and Stephen A. Woodbury create a comprehensive view into the impact that the many different types (including the lack) of employee benefits have on labor markets. Substantial differences between the American and Canadian Systems of employee benefits highlight the impacts of specific employee benefits policies on the labor markets. The four sections of this book focus on the relationship between employee benefits and labor supply, benefits and labor demand, implications of benefits for worker turnover, wages, and equity, and finally, pensions and public policy toward retirement income.