IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp6792.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Union Membership and Density: Some (Not So) Stylized Facts and Challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Schnabel, Claus

    (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

Abstract

Surveying some recent data and the empirical literature from various disciplines, this paper attempts to shed some light on what we know and don't know about (trends in) unionization and its determinants in advanced countries. It shows that there are relatively few robust stylized facts, for instance that unionization is positively related to public sector employment, to establishment size and to the business cycle (with union growth being procyclical). The existence of a union-administered unemployment insurance and unions' presence at the workplace also play a positive role for (changes in) unionization. However, some seemingly obvious explanations for the decline in unionization over the last decades do not hold on closer scrutiny. Various trends like the ongoing economic globalization and changes in the sectoral structure of the economy and the composition of the workforce do not seem to have impeded union membership and density everywhere. Similarly, the trend towards decentralization of collective bargaining has not resulted in large-scale deunionization. It also remains an open question whether changes in social values, rising individualism, and changing attitudes of employees towards unions have affected or will affect unionization negatively.

Suggested Citation

  • Schnabel, Claus, 2012. "Union Membership and Density: Some (Not So) Stylized Facts and Challenges," IZA Discussion Papers 6792, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6792
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp6792.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Schmitt & Alexandra Mitukiewicz, 2012. "Politics matter: changes in unionisation rates in rich countries, 1960–2010," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 260-280, May.
    2. Laszlo Goerke & Markus Pannenberg, 2012. "Risk Aversion and Trade‐Union Membership," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 275-295, June.
    3. Laszlo Goerke & Markus Pannenberg, 2007. "Trade Union Membership and Works Councils in West Germany," Industrielle Beziehungen - Zeitschrift fuer Arbeit, Organisation und Management - The German Journal of Industrial Relations, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 14(2), pages 154-175.
    4. Bernd Fitzenberger & Karsten Kohn & Qingwei Wang, 2011. "The erosion of union membership in Germany: determinants, densities, decompositions," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 141-165, January.
    5. Schnabel, Claus, 2012. "Union membership and density: Some (not so) stylized facts and challenges," Discussion Papers 81, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    6. Daniele Checchi & Claudio Lucifora, 2002. "Unions and labour market institutions in Europe [‘Deunionisation, technical change and inequality’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(35), pages 361-408.
    7. Daniel Fackler & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2013. "Establishment exits in Germany: the role of size and age," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 683-700, October.
    8. repec:bla:econom:v:55:y:1988:i:217:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Annette Vann De Berg & Yolanda Grift, 2001. "Dutch trade union membership 1979-1995," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(10), pages 1233-1242.
    10. Jelle Visser, 2002. "Why Fewer Workers Join Unions in Europe: A Social Custom Explanation of Membership Trends," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 40(3), pages 403-430, September.
    11. Virginia Christie, 1992. "Union Wage Effects and the Probability of Union Membership," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 68(1), pages 43-56, March.
    12. Naylor, Robin, 1990. "A social custom model of collective action," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 201-216, October.
    13. John H. Pencavel, 1971. "The Demand for Union Services: An Exercise," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 24(2), pages 180-190, January.
    14. van Ours, J.C., 1992. "Union growth in the Netherlands; 1961-1989," Other publications TiSEM 3b81a9b0-e84b-49c9-8457-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. repec:bla:ecorec:v:68:y:1992:i:200:p:43-56 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Hagen Lesch, 2004. "Trade Union Density in International Comparison," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 5(04), pages 12-18, December.
    17. Magnani, Elisabetta & Prentice, David, 2003. "Did globalization reduce unionization? Evidence from US manufacturing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 705-726, December.
    18. Hirsch, Boris & Schnabel, Claus, 2011. "Let's take bargaining models seriously: The decline in union power in Germany, 1992 - 2009," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 10/2011, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    19. Holmlund, Bertil & Lundborg, Per, 1999. "Wage bargaining, union membership, and the organization of unemployment insurance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 397-415, September.
    20. Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Morley Gunderson & Noah Meltz, 2005. "Youth-Adult Differences in the Demand for Unionization: Are American, British, and Canadian Workers All That Different?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 26(1), pages 155-167, January.
    21. Nicola‐Maria Riley, 1997. "Determinants of Union Membership: A Review," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 11(2), pages 265-301, June.
    22. David G. Blanchflower, 2007. "International Patterns of Union Membership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 1-28, March.
    23. Borland, Jeff & Ouliaris, S, 1994. "The Determinants of Australian Trade Union Membership," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(4), pages 453-468, Oct.-Dec..
    24. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "Training in Europe," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 346-360, 04/05.
    25. Hendrik Biebeler & Hagen Lesch, 2007. "Zwischen Mitgliedererosion und Ansehensverlust - Die deutschen Gewerkschaften im Umbruch," Industrielle Beziehungen - Zeitschrift fuer Arbeit, Organisation und Management - The German Journal of Industrial Relations, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 14(2), pages 133-153.
    26. Stephen Nickell & Luca Nunziata & Wolfgang Ochel, 2005. "Unemployment in the OECD Since the 1960s. What Do We Know?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(500), pages 1-27, January.
    27. Alison L. Booth, 1985. "The Free Rider Problem and a Social Custom Model of Trade Union Membership," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(1), pages 253-261.
    28. van den Berg, Annette & Groot, Wim, 1992. "Union Membership in the Netherlands: A Cross-Sectional Analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 537-564.
    29. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel (ed.), 2003. "International Handbook of Trade Unions," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2705.
    30. Robert J. Flanagan, 2005. "Has Management Strangled U.S. Unions?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 26(1), pages 33-63, January.
    31. Bernhard Ebbinghaus & Jelle Visser, 1998. "When Institutions Matter: Union Growth and Decline in Western Europe, 1950-95," MZES Working Papers 30, MZES.
    32. Orley Ashenfelter & John H. Pencavel, 1969. "American Trade Union Growth: 1900–1960," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(3), pages 434-448.
    33. Jeremy Waddington & Colin Whitston, 1997. "Why Do People Join Unions in a Period of Membership Decline?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 515-546, December.
    34. Hirsch, Boris & Konietzko, Thorsten, 2011. "The effect of housework on wages in Germany: No impact at all," Discussion Papers 74, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    35. Sven Oskarsson, 2003. "Institutional Explanations of Union Strength: An Assessment," Politics & Society, , vol. 31(4), pages 609-635, December.
    36. Petri Böckerman & Roope Uusitalo, 2006. "Erosion of the Ghent System and Union Membership Decline: Lessons from Finland," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(2), pages 283-303, June.
    37. Henry S. Farber & Bruce Western, 2001. "Accounting for the Decline of Unions in the Private Sector, 1973-1998 ," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 22(3), pages 459-485, July.
    38. Martyn Andrews & Robin Naylor, 1994. "Declining Union Density in the 1980s: What Do Panel Data Tell Us?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 413-432, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Veliziotis, Michail, 2010. "Trade unions and unpaid overtime in Britain," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-43, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Fackler, Daniel & Schnabel, Claus, 2013. "Survival of Spinoffs and Other Startups: First Evidence for the Private Sector in Germany, 1976-2008," IZA Discussion Papers 7542, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald & Nergaard, Kristine, 2016. "Gender Differences in the Union Wage Premium? A Comparative Case Study," IZA Discussion Papers 10435, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2017. "Union Density, Productivity, and Wages," DoQSS Working Papers 17-11, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    5. Töngür, Ünal & Elveren, Adem Yavuz, 2014. "Deunionization and pay inequality in OECD Countries: A panel Granger causality approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 417-425.
    6. Maria Kranendonk & Paul Beer, 2016. "What Explains the Union Membership Gap between Migrants and Natives?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 846-869, December.
    7. Oberfichtner, Michael, 2013. "Works council introductions: Do they reflect workers' voice?," Discussion Papers 83, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    8. Hugo Vilares, 2015. "Trade Unions: The winners curse?," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    9. Schnabel, Claus, 2012. "Union membership and density: Some (not so) stylized facts and challenges," Discussion Papers 81, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    10. Michael Ollinger & Friedrich L. Sell, 2017. "What Determines Union Density? A Political Economy Model of the Labor Market with Empirical Evidence in the Context of European Countries," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 10, pages 18-32, November.
    11. Lisa Dorigatti, 2014. "Organizzare i non organizzati," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 129-141.
    12. Federico Podestà, 2016. "Do Big Governments Promote Trade Liberalization? A Long-Term Analysis of 18 OECD Countries, 1975-2000," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2016-02, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    13. Sell, Friedrich L. & Öllinger, Michael, 2017. "Reward effects and incentive effects on the labor market: Empirical evidence for European countries," Working Papers in Economics 2017,2, Bundeswehr University Munich, Economic Research Group.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schnabel, Claus, 2002. "Determinants of trade union membership," Discussion Papers 15, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    2. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2005. "Determinants of Union Membership in 18 EU Countries: Evidence from Micro Data, 2002/03," IZA Discussion Papers 1464, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Blanchflower, David G., 2006. "A Cross-Country Study of Union Membership," IZA Discussion Papers 2016, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Schnabel Claus & Wagner Joachim, 2008. "The Aging of the Unions in West Germany, 1980–2006," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 228(5-6), pages 497-511, October.
    5. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2003. "Trade Union Membership in Eastern and Western Germany: Convergence or Divergence?," IZA Discussion Papers 707, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2003. "Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Western Germany: Evidence from Micro Data, 1980-2000," IZA Discussion Papers 708, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Bernd Fitzenberger & Karsten Kohn & Qingwei Wang, 2011. "The erosion of union membership in Germany: determinants, densities, decompositions," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 141-165, January.
    8. Nora Ilona Elek, 2016. "Selective Incentives And Trade Union Density," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 340-350, July.
    9. Olivier Guillot & Magali Jaoul-Grammare & Isabelle Terraz, 2019. "Union Membership in France: An Empirical Study," Working Papers of BETA 2019-04, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    10. Laszlo Goerke & Markus Pannenberg, 2007. "Trade Union Membership and Works Councils in West Germany," Industrielle Beziehungen - Zeitschrift fuer Arbeit, Organisation und Management - The German Journal of Industrial Relations, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 14(2), pages 154-175.
    11. Laszlo Goerke & Markus Pannenberg, 2012. "Risk Aversion and Trade‐Union Membership," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 275-295, June.
    12. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2005. "Who Are the Workers Who Never Joined a Union? Empirical Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 1658, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. John Schmitt & Alexandra Mitukiewicz, 2012. "Politics matter: changes in unionisation rates in rich countries, 1960–2010," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 260-280, May.
    14. Hagen Lesch, 2004. "Trade Union Density in International Comparison," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 5(04), pages 12-18, December.
    15. Simon Ress & Florian Spohr, 2022. "Was it worth it? The impact of the German minimum wage on union membership of employees," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(4), pages 1699-1723, November.
    16. Flemming Ibsen & Laust Høgedahl & Steen Scheuer, 2013. "Free riders: the rise of alternative unionism in Denmark," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5-6), pages 444-461, November.
    17. Daniele Checchi & Jelle Visser & Herman G. Van De Werfhorst, 2010. "Inequality and Union Membership: The Influence of Relative Earnings and Inequality Attitudes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 84-108, March.
    18. Jonas Toubøl & Carsten Strøby Jensen, 2014. "Why do people join trade unions? The impact of workplace union density on union recruitment," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 20(1), pages 135-154, February.
    19. repec:aia:aiaswp:wp42 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2022. "Union Membership Peaks in Midlife," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(1), pages 124-151, March.
    21. Magali Jaoul-Grammare & Isabelle Terraz, 2013. "A Causality Analysis of Economic Growth and Union Density in European Countries," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(4), pages 421-442, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    unionization; union density; union membership; trade unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6792. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.