Declining Unionization: Do Fringe Benefits Matter?

Wayne Edwards () and Scott Fuess
Additional contact information
Wayne Edwards: University of Alaska, Anchorage

Eastern Economic Journal, 2005, vol. 31, issue 4, 563-580

Abstract: This study examines whether there is a relationship between benefits and private sector unionization in the US. In their regression analysis, the authors use FRINGE in their as an explanatory variable. The dependent variable is UNIZ, the fraction of the private, non-farm labor force that is unionized. The changing nature of compensation has affected union density. In the private sector, as fringe benefits have become a more prominent component of workers' pay, ceteris paribus, union density has declined nationwide. Over the fifty-year period 1948-1997, at least 12% of the drop in unionization can be attributed to the growing role of non-wage benefits. For the private sector in general and manufacturing in particular, the authors have established that unionization is related to the composition of pay. Yet the influence of non-wage benefits may vary across industries or even different subsectors of manufacturing. It remains to be seen whether there are similar findings for other sectors.

Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume31/V31N4P563_580.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:31:y:2005:i:4:p:563-580

Access Statistics for this article

Eastern Economic Journal is currently edited by Cynthia A. Bansak, St. Lawrence University and Allan A. Zebedee, Clarkson University

More articles in Eastern Economic Journal from Eastern Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross ().