Productivity Levels and Productivity Change Under Unionism

Steven Allen

No 2304, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines how unions affect the rate of productivity change over time. The direction of union impact cannot be predicted from economic theory. Firms may tend to select more productive technologies to offset the cost of higher union wages or they may tend to select less productive technologies to keep union wage demands in line. Evidence from manufacturing indicates that unions have not affected productivity growth, but in the construction industry productivity growth has been much slower in areas where there is a high initial level of unionization or where unionization is growing.

Date: 1987-07
Note: LS
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Published as STEVEN G. ALLEN, 1988. "Productivity Levels & Productivity Change Under Unionism," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, vol 27(1), pages 94-113.

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