Who Are the Workers Who Never Joined a Union? Empirical Evidence from Germany

Claus Schnabel and Joachim Wagner ()

No 1658, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using representative data from the German social survey ALLBUS 2002 and the European Social Survey 2002/03, this paper provides the first empirical analysis of trade union never-membership in Germany. We show that between 54 and 59 percent of all employees in Germany have never been members of a trade union. Individuals' probability of never-membership is significantly affected by their personal characteristics (in particular age, education and status at work), their political orientation and (to a lesser degree) their family background, and by broad location. In addition, occupational and workplace characteristics play a significant role. Most important in this regard is the presence of a union at the workplace.

Keywords: union membership; never-membership; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2005-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-edu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published in: Industrielle Beziehungen, 2006, 13 (2), 118-131

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Related works:
Working Paper: Who are the workers who never joined a union? Empirical evidence from Germany (2005)
Working Paper: Who are the workers who never joined a union? Empirical evidence from Germany (2005)
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