Firm performance and productivity: Is labour an obstacle?
- The Indian Journal of Labour Economics
- 65(3), Jul-Sep, 2022: p. 709-728
Using cross-sectional data on SMEs, the paper examines the importance of labour obstacles on their performance and productivity. The findings indicate that labour obstacles are an important impediment affecting firm behaviour: a one standard deviation increase in such obstacles lower sales by 6–8% and employment by 2–5%. In addition, we find that such obstacles are more acute in case of women-focused firms. Taken together, these findings extend the literature on labour obstacles to small firms and suggest that policy needs to focus on this hitherto neglected aspect of SME behaviour. – Reproduced
SME, Labour obstacles, Sales, Employment, Productivity.