It's both, but boss is the biggest contributor of the two by far. I've worked for few owners, they hate payroll. It's their biggest expense and that infuriates many of them. They despise paying anybody anything.

So, of course a huge amount pay the lowest wages possible, and a lot of them would own you as a slave if it was legal, no doubt. And they'd grumble about the cost of the gruel.

Government's fundamental job is keeping the general population from being enslaved by these people. It's what government is for.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 1 points 57 minutes ago (1 children)

It’s their biggest expense

I kinda doubt this is true for most businesses to be honest. It's just the expense that most pisses them off.

It's kinda like if you ever get into an argument with someone about US government spending. Many people believe military personnel is the biggest ticket item for the pentagon when it is not even close.

Many companies spend more on marketing (in house or more often outsourced) than they do on labor. But for some reason, labor is always what pisses them off.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 minutes ago

We've been working for different types of companies then, because I'm going to have to agree with the other guy on payroll usually being the biggest. Definitely so for office type work, probably less so for industrial work where you need to buy a bunch of input goods.