How representative are social partners in Europe? The role of dissimilarity

Marta Martínez Matute and Pedro Martins
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Marta Martínez-Matute ()

No 718, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: Social partners (trade unions and employers' associations) shape labour institutions and economic and social outcomes in many countries. In this paper, we argue that, when examining social partners' representativeness, it is important to consider both affiliation and dissimilarity measures. The latter concerns the extent to which affiliated and non- affiliated firms or workers are distributed similarly across relevant dimensions, including firm size. In our analysis of European Company Survey data, we find that affiliation and dissimilarity measures correlate positively across countries, particularly in the case of employers' associations. This result also holds across employers' associations when we use firm population data for Portugal. Overall, we conclude that higher affiliation rates do not necessarily equate to more representative social partners as they can involve greater dissimilarity between affiliated and non-affiliated firms.

Keywords: Employers' Associations; Social Dialogue; Collective Bargaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J50 L22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eur, nep-hme and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: How representative are social partners in Europe? The role of dissimilarity (2022)
Working Paper: How Representative Are Social Partners in Europe? The Role of Dissimilarity (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:718

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