An employee's annual earnings fall by 13% in the first full calendar year after her firm's bankruptcy, and the present value of lost earnings from bankruptcy to six years following bankruptcy is 87% of pre-bankruptcy annual earnings. More worker earnings are lost in thin labor markets and among small firms. Ex ante compensating wage differentials for this “bankruptcy risk” are up to 2% of firm value for a firm whose credit rating falls from AA to BBB, comparable in magnitude to debt tax benefits. Thus, wage premia for expected costs of bankruptcy are sufficiently large to be an important consideration in capital structure decisions.

中文翻译：

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公司破产的员工成本

一名雇员的公司破产后第一个完整日历年的年收入下降了 13%，破产后至破产后六年的收入损失现值为破产前年收入的 87%。更多的工人收入在劳动力市场薄弱和小企业中损失。对于信用评级从 AA 降至 BBB 的公司，这种“破产风险”的事前补偿工资差异最高可达公司价值的 2%，其幅度与债务税收优惠相当。因此，预期破产成本的工资溢价足够大，足以成为资本结构决策的重要考虑因素。