National Institute Economic Review · 2001 · 178 citations · 23 references
LawEconomicsSociologyIndustrial RelationsLabor EconomicsLabor RelationsEmployment DiscriminationMinimum WageTrade UnionismUnion EconomicsWage BargainingWage DiscriminationDiscrimination In Labor MarketsFirm Wage PoliciesMinimum Wage Effects On WagesPay Dispersion AnalysisUnionUnion Wage BargainingUnion Wage DifferentialsWage Structure Analysis
Union membership is associated with lower pay dispersion because union jobs are more homogeneous and union wage policies, including minimum wage targets, reduce wage variability. The study finds that unions lower the return to human capital in firms that recognize them and compress wage differentials across gender, race, and occupation.
Dispersion in pay is lower among union members than among non-unionists. This reflects two factors. First, union members and jobs are more homogeneous than their non-union counterparts. Second, union wage policies within and across firms lower pay dispersion. Unions' minimum wage targets also truncate the lower tail of the union distribution. There are two major consequences of these egalitarian union wage policies. First, the return to human capital is lower in firms which recognise unions than in the unorganised sector. Second, unions compress the wage structure by gender, race and occupation.
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Edward P. Lazear · The Journal of Business · 1986 · 732 citations
Unionism and the Dispersion of Wages
Richard B. Freeman · Industrial and Labor Relations Review · 1980 · 441 citations