Union wage effects in Australia in a period of declining union power: The role of endowments and returns to endowments

Daehoon Nahm (), Michael Dobbie () and Craig MacMillan ()
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Daehoon Nahm: Macquarie University
Michael Dobbie: Macquarie University
Craig MacMillan: Macquarie University

Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), 2022, vol. 25, issue 2, 148-170

Abstract: This study explores the union-non-union wage differentials in Australia, using a quantile regression model and simulation-based counterfactual decomposition. We find that wages for unionists are higher, and more equally distributed, compared to non-unionists. The decomposition analysis reveals that the main reason for a positive union-non-union wage differential is the possession of better labour market endowments by unionists compared with non-unionists. We find that union wages are more equally distributed because endowments of key employment characteristics are more homogenously distributed among unionists. A corollary of this is that differences in the returns to endowments, the ‘pure’ union-non-union wage differentials, are estimated to be small, approximately 0 to 4 per cent for males and 0 to 2 per cent for females.

Keywords: Union wage effects; unobserved heterogeneity; counterfactual decomposition; panel data; HILDA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J3 J51 J59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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