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Trades unions, real wages and full employment

Author

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  • Mark Hayes

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

A core proposition of Keynes’s General Theory is that money wages do not determine real wages or employment at the aggregate level in a closed economy. What then is the macroeconomic role of trades unions in the determination of real wages and employment? What are the mechanisms through which bargaining power takes effect? The paper argues that trades unions play important roles in countering employer monopsony as well as in determining the non-wage terms and conditions of employment and the incidence of risk between capital and labour. In the former role, it is the money wage that is relevant, while the latter role is a factor in the determination of aggregate real income and profit, yet the aggregate real wage itself and the wage share are residuals. Trades unions have the potential to support the promotion of full employment with price stability as part of a policy of demand management through the adoption of co-ordinated wage bargaining institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Hayes, 2016. "Trades unions, real wages and full employment," Working Papers PKWP1615, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    • Handle: RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp1615
    as

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    File URL: https://www.postkeynesian.net/downloads/working-papers/PKWP1615_b6I7c3w.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joan Robinson, 1969. "The Economics of Imperfect Competition," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, edition 0, number 978-1-349-15320-6, December.
    2. Marc Lavoie & Stockhammer Engelbert, 2013. "Wage-Led Growth: An Equitable Strategy for Economic Recovery," Post-Print hal-01343664, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collective bargaining; wage co-ordination; income distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation

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