Nonunion Wage Rates and the Threat of Unionization

Bibliographic Data

ID3453543
AuthorsHenrys Farber (0000-0003-2284-3909, Princeton University, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume58
Issue3
Pages335-352
Publication date2005-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/001979390505800302
OpenAlexW2096111225
LanguageEN
Citations received33
References cited14

Using CPS data for 1977-2002, the author investigates the extent to which the threat of union organization increases nonunion wages and reduces the union/nonunion wage differential. The results are mixed. Estimates employing the predicted probability of union membership as a measure of the union threat show no important link between the union threat and either nonunion wages or the union wage gap. Estimates focusing on two states' introduction of right-to-work laws, which arguably affect the threat of union organization independently of changes in labor demand, show that in one state the law was associated with a statistically significant drop in nonunion wages. Finally, an analysis of wage data for three industries that underwent deregulation-another natural experiment in which labor demand changes are unlikely to have been a complicating factor-yields stronger evidence of threat effects on nonunion wages than do either of the other two analyses

Demographic economics · Deregulation · Differential (mechanical device) · Economics · Labour economics · Market economy · Nonunion · Wage · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Labor Movements and Unions · Transport and Economic Policies

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