Can German Unions Still Cut It?

John Addison, Paulino Teixeira, Jens Stephani and Lutz Bellmann ()
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Jens Stephani: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Germany
Lutz Bellmann: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit, IZA Bonn, Germany

Working Paper series from Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis

Abstract: That trade unionism is in decline is seems to be beyond dispute. More controversial is the implied change in union impact on worker wages. In using a linked employer-employee dataset over an interval of continuing decline in unionism, namely 2000-2010, this paper addresses this very issue. It is found that joining a sectoral agreement always produces higher wages, while exiting a sectoral agreement no longer produces wage losses if the transition is to a firm agreement. Leaving a firm agreement to non-coverage also leads to wage reductions, while joining one from non-coverage seems decreasingly favourable. At the end of the day, there is one constant: although small, the positive union wage gap persists.

Date: 2015-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-eec, nep-mac and nep-opm
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Related works:
Working Paper: Can German Unions Still Cut It? (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rim:rimwps:15-08

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