A Sequential Decomposition of the Drop in Collective Bargaining Coverage

Bernd Fitzenberger and Katrin Sommerfeld

Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), 2016, vol. 236, issue 1, 37-69

Abstract: Union representation has been in strong decline in most OECD countries with potentially important consequences for wages. What drives this decline? We try to answer this question by developing and implementing a detailed Fairlie decomposition approach. Using linked employer-employee data from the German Structure of Earnings Survey for 2001 and 2006, we document a sharp drop in collective bargaining coverage that amounts to 17 percentage points for males and 20 percentage points for females in West, and 8 and 14 percentage points, respectively, in East Germany. We find that neither changes in the characteristics nor changes in the coefficients associated with the characteristics as a whole provide an explanation for the drop in collective bargaining coverage. The drop in coverage is the result of an unexplained time trend.

Keywords: collective bargaining; unions; sequential decomposition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 J51 J52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: A sequential decomposition of the drop in collective bargaining coverage (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:236:y:2016:i:1:p:37-69

DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2015-1002

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