Determinants of Trade Union Membership in OECD Countries: A Survey

Abstract

Reviews the literature on trade union membership in OECD countries. After considering the ways in which trade union membership is measured, trends in both membership and density since 1970 are examined. When cross‐sectional determinants are considered, density is found to be unrelated to size of employment in the manufacturing sector and the share of female employment, but it is related to the level of collective bargaining and the size of the public sector. An examination of individual and job‐related characteristics finds membership is higher among males, those with family responsibilities, those with lower occupational status and those with low educational achievements and that job dissatisfaction and left‐wing views are also important. Time‐series studies find that while union growth and decline are linked to the business cycle, with wages, prices and unemployment affecting membership, economic factors are not the sole explanation. Concludes by surveying the causes of union decline since 1980, together with recent error‐correction and cointegration approaches to modelling trade union membership.