PRODUCTIVITY, EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR DEMAND IN POLISH INDUSTRY IN THE 1980S - SOME PRELIMINARY-RESULTS FROM ENTERPRISE-LEVEL DATA

The paper uses annual data from a panel of 334 Polish industrial enter prises over the period 1983-1988 to test empirically a simple neoclass ical approach to the socialist labor market. First, an enterprise prod uction function is estimated. The paper finds that for most enterprise s, the resulting estimated marginal product of labor exceeds the wage paid by the enterprise by a considerable margin, suggesting general ex cess demand for labor. The paper then looks at how the difference betw een the MPL and the wage is related to the rate of change of employmen t, and finds that firms where the MPL is higher than the wage - firms which in a neoclassical model would have a large excess demand for lab or - do not shed labor any more slowly than other firms.