Membership in Employers' Associations and Collective Bargaining Coverage in Germany

Uwe Jirjahn

No 14783, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: While there is a strong overlap between membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage, the overlap is far from being perfect. Using unique firm-level data from Germany, this study estimates the determinants of the membership in employers' associations and the coverage by industry-level or firm-level agreements. The analysis particularly focuses on the various constellations of membership and collective bargaining status. The results show that firm-level worker representation, foreign ownership, work organization, firm size, age and East-West differences are important determinants. Altogether, the analysis demonstrates that a more differentiated picture of industrial relations can be obtained by considering both membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage.

Keywords: works councils; employers’ associations; firm-level bargaining; industry-level bargaining; union density; foreign ownership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F23 F66 J51 J52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eur and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - revised version published in: Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2023, 44 (3), 798-826

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Working Paper: Membership in Employers' Associations and Collective Bargaining Coverage in Germany (2021)
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