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Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany

Bernd Fitzenberger, Karsten Kohn and Alexander Lembcke

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: Collective bargaining in Germany takes place either at the industry level or at the firm level; collective bargaining coverage is much higher than union density; and not all employees in a covered firm are necessarily covered. This institutional setup suggests to distinguish explicitly union power as measured by net union density (NUD) in a labor market segment, coverage at the firm level, and coverage at the individual level. Using linked employer-employee data and applying quantile regressions, this is the first empirical paper which simultaneously analyzes these three dimensions of union influence on the structure of wages. Ceteris paribus, a higher share of employees in a firm covered by industry-wide or firm-level contracts is associated with higher wages. Yet, individual bargaining coverage in a covered firm shows a negative impact both on the wage level and on wage dispersion. A higher union density is negative at all points in the wage distribution for uncovered employees. In line with an insurance motive, higher union density compresses the wage structure and, at the same time, it is associated with a uniform leftward movement of the distribution for uncovered employees.

Keywords: Union density; collective bargaining coverage; wage structure; quantile regression; linked employer-employer data; Structure of Earnings Survey 2001; Germany. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J51 J52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eec, nep-lab and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (74)

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https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp0859.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany (2013) Downloads
Working Paper: Union density and varieties of coverage: the anatomy of union wage effects in Germany (2008) Downloads
Working Paper: Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany (2008) Downloads
Working Paper: Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany (2008) Downloads
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