Immigrants and Trade Union Membership: Does Integration into Society and Workplace Play a Moderating Role?

Fenet Jima Bedaso, Uwe Jirjahn and Laszlo Goerke
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Fenet Jima Bedaso: University of Trier

No 15587, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel, our empirical analysis confirms a unionization gap for first-generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, the analysis shows that the immigrant-native gap in union membership indeed depends on immigrants' integration into the workplace and society. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany.

Keywords: union membership; migration; works council; social contacts with natives; years since arrival (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J52 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - revised version published in: British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2024, 62 (2), 262-292 (authored by Fenet Jima Bedaso and Uwe Jirjahn)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Immigrants and trade union membership: Does integration into society and workplace play a moderating role? (2024)
Working Paper: Immigrants and Trade Union Membership; Does Integration into Society and Workplace Play a Moderating Role? (2022)
Working Paper: Immigrants and Trade Union Membership: Does Integration into Society and Workplace Play a Moderating Role? (2022)
Working Paper: Immigrants and Trade Union Membership: Does Integration into Society and Workplace Play a Moderating Role? (2022)
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