Unions and Job Security in the Public Sector

Steven Allen

No 2108, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This study examines the effect of unions on job security in the public and private sectors. Despite much lower unemployment rates for public than private sector workers, once one controls for differences in worker and job characteristics, the odds of being unemployed are identical for nonunion workers in the public and private sectors. The picture is quite different for union workers, who face greater odds of becoming unemployed than nonunion workers in private sector jobs but much lower chances of becoming unemployed in the public sector. The ability of unions to reduce layoff and unemployment rates in the public sector seems attributable to the political power to prevent budget cuts and the absence of Unemployment Insurance subsidies or supplemental unemployment benefits.

Date: 1986-12
Note: LS
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Published as From When Public Sector Workers Unionize, edited by Richard B. Freeman and Casey Ichniowski, pp. 271-296. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Published as Unions and Job Security in the Public Sector , Steven G. Allen. in When Public Sector Workers Unionize , Freeman and Ichniowski. 1988

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