Emotional Labor Demands and Compensating Wage Differentials

The concept of emotional labor demands and their effects on workers has received considerable attention in recent years, with most studies concentrating on stress, burnout, satisfaction, or other affective outcomes. This study extends the literature by examining the relationship between emotional labor demands and wages at the occupational level by incorporating data on generalized work activities and work context features from the O*NET. Theories describing the expected effects of job demands and working conditions on wages are described. Results suggest that higher levels of emotional labor demands are associated with lower wage rates for jobs low in cognitive demands and higher wage rates for jobs high in cognitive demands. Implications of these findings are discussed.