Francisco, Paulo Morais2025-10-172025-10-172025-121544-6123http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/27832We examine whether firms labour intensity raises systematic risk. Drawing on 12,250 listed, non financial companies from 93 countries, we analyse CAPM betas over five , three and two year windows and separately evaluate their upside (β+) and downside (β− ) components. OLS results show that a one standard deviation increase in labour intensity lifts the five year beta by 0.08 and loads disproportionately on downside risk. Instrumenting labour intensity in a 2SLS framework magnifies the effect, confirming a causal link. Overall, our evidence shows that labour intensive firms worldwide carry higher betas because fixed wage bills magnify operating leverage; the extra risk is most visible when markets decline, making a company’s workforce composition a key driver of its equity risk.engLabour intensityEmployeesAsymmetric riskSystematic riskjournal article10.1016/j.frl.2025.108475