内容提要：
This paper investigates how firms’ labor skill heterogeneity affects dividend payout policy. Building on the literature’s finding that it is more costly to hire, retain, and layoff skilled labor, we hypothesize that firms relying more on skilled labor are more cautious in setting their dividend policy, which competes for funding with labor force. Consistent with the hypothesis, we find that firms in industries with more skilled labor are less likely to distribute or increase dividends, and when they pay or increase dividends, they do so in smaller magnitudes. The results are supported by a myriad of additional tests, which examine subsamples of firms with relatively similar characteristics, construct propensity-score matched samples, and utilize an exogenous shock to skilled labor supply. We further document that dividend increases by firms relying more on skilled labor are more strongly correlated with future earnings changes and are accompanied by stronger stock market reactions. These results strengthen our inference that firms employing more skilled labor exert higher caution in their dividend policy.
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