A Reconsideration of the Effects of Unionism on Relative Wages and Employment in the United States, 1920-80

John Pencavel and Catherine E. Hartsog

No 1316, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: H. Gregg Lewis' estimates of the relative wage effect of unionism between 1920 and 1958 are routinely cited though they have rarely been subject to scrutiny. This paper extends Lewis' data to 1980 and, in particular, we construct a series on union membership that links up with the data available in the 1970's from the Current Population Surveys. We proceed to reexamine the effects of trade unions both on relative wages and on relative man hours worked.Our estimates of the relative wage effect are similar to Lewis' though these are not measured with precision and a wide range of estimates are consistent with the results. With respect to the effect of unionism on relative man hours worked, we are not at all satisfied that the analysis of these data clearly points to the existence of a negative effect.

Date: 1984-03
Note: LS
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Published as Pencavel, John H. "A Reconsiderstion of the Effects of Unionism on Relative Wages and Employment in the United States, 1920-80," Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 2, No. 2, April 1984, pp. 193-232.

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