Wage inequality and union membership at the establishment level: An econometric study using Norwegian data

Elin Svarstad and Ragnar Nymoen

Oxford Economic Papers, 2023, vol. 75, issue 2, 371-392

Abstract: We model the empirical relationship between the within-establishment union membership rate and wage inequality in Norway. The data set is a panel of 2,285 private-sector establishments observed in the period 2000–18. The statistical model represents joint feedback between wage inequality and union membership. Dynamic panel data models are estimated for different wage inequality measures, with gini as the reference measure. The results show a negative relationship between union membership and wage inequality, which is robust with respect to different inequality measures and estimation method. The strength of the relationship increases with the permanency of the shift in union membership. We find evidence that union membership is a more important explanatory variable for the lower part of the wage distribution than for the upper part. Furthermore, the impact of union density on wage inequality is conditional on the presence of a collective agreement.

JEL-codes: C22 C23 C26 C51 E02 E11 E24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpac018 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:oup:oxecpp:v:75:y:2023:i:2:p:371-392.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Oxford Economic Papers is currently edited by James Forder and Francis J. Teal

More articles in Oxford Economic Papers from Oxford University Press Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().