Declining unions and the coverage wage gap: can German unions still cut it?
Addison, John T. ; Teixeira, Paulino ; Stephani, Jens ; Bellmann, Lutz
2015
36
3
Summer
301-317
collective bargaining ; collective agreement ; trade union ; wages
Trade unionism
English
Bibliogr.
"That German trade unionism is in profound decline seems to be beyond dispute. More controversial is the implied change in union impact on worker wages. A linked employer-employee dataset is deployed over an interval of continuing decline in unionism to address this issue. Over the sample period 2000–2010 it is found that joining a sectoral agreement always produces higher wages, while exiting one no longer leads to wage losses if the transition is to a firm agreement. Leaving a firm agreement to non-coverage also leads to wage reductions, while joining one from non-coverage appears decreasingly favorable. The one constant is the persistence of a small positive union wage gap."
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