I am a bit confused in determining factors that increase total labour costs and l had thought that a department with spare capacity being made to work more hours would increase labour costs but it seems my perspective is wrong, kindly help me clear this confusion
It depends how the question say that about is actually being paid. However, if labour are paid a fixed rate per hour, then they will be paid the same whether they are working all the time or there are hours when they are not doing anything (but still being paid).