Will Overtime Lead to Layoffs?

Once upon a time, employers had all of the leverage. They worked people, including kids, ridiculously hard, and for little money. Then came minimum wage, age and overtime rules. I think almost everyone would agree that given the time these rules were enacted (first half of the 20th century), they were the right thing to do. We could get into a much bigger discussion on how employees have a lot more power and how the country has changed to a knowledge-based economy, but that isn't the point I want to make.  Companies large and small are laying off people by millions.  While companies are trying to cut costs, they need more productivity. At the same time, wouldn't employees who are getting laid off kill for the opportunity to put in more hours to keep their jobs?  Unfortunately, overtime rules prevent a "non-exempt" employee from agreeing to work say an extra 5-10 hours per week in exchange for keeping their jobs. And by the way, if the employee and company did agree on the employee working more hours, in comes the state department of labor to take up precious time for an employee audit and probably assess a fine. I am not suggesting that companies use the economy as an excuse to get cheap labor. But I am sure some sort of relaxation of overtime rules will help alleviate the unemployment situation and help people put food on the table.