Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Returns to seniority in union and nonunion jobs: A new look at the evidence

Contents:

Author Info

  • Katharine G. Abraham
  • Henry S. Farber

Abstract

In cross-sectional data, the positive association between seniority and earnings is typically much stronger for nonunion workers than for union workers, a finding that seems inconsistent with the generalization that seniority is more important in the union sector than in the nonunion sector. The authors of this paper show that standard estimates of the return to seniority are likely to be biased upward due to unmeasured worker heterogeneity, job heterogeneity, or both, and they argue that this bias is likely to be larger in the nonunion sector than in the union sector. When they correct for this problem in analyzing data on male blue-collar workers for the years 1968-80, they find a larger return to seniority in the union sector than in the nonunion sector. (Abstract courtesy JSTOR.)

Download Info

To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
1. Check below under "Related research" whether another version of this item is available online.
2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School in its journal ILR Review.

Volume (Year): 42 (1988)
Issue (Month): 1 (October)
Pages: 3-19

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:ilr:articl:v:42:y:1988:i:1:p:3-19

Contact details of provider:
Fax: 607-255-8016
Web page: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrreview/
More information through EDIRC

Order Information:
Postal: 381 Ives East, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
Email:
Web: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrreview/

Related research

Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Joseph Altonji & R. Shakotko, 1985. "Do Wages Rise with Job Seniority?," Working Papers 567, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  2. George J. Borjas, 1979. "Job Satisfaction, Wages, and Unions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 14(1), pages 21-40.
  3. Heckman, James & Singer, Burton, 1984. "A Method for Minimizing the Impact of Distributional Assumptions in Econometric Models for Duration Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 271-320, March.
  4. Thomas Hyclak, 1979. "The effect of unions on earnings inequality in local labor markets," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 33(1), pages 77-84, October.
  5. E.K. Berndt & B.H. Hall & R.E. Hall, 1974. "Estimation and Inference in Nonlinear Structural Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 3, number 4, pages 103-116 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. Richard B. Freeman, 1980. "Unionism and the dispersion of wages," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 34(1), pages 3-23, October.
  7. Hall, Robert E, 1982. "The Importance of Lifetime Jobs in the U.S. Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 716-24, September.
  8. Blair, Douglas H & Crawford, David L, 1984. "Labor Union Objectives and Collective Bargaining," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 547-66, August.
  9. Lancaster, Tony, 1979. "Econometric Methods for the Duration of Unemployment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 939-56, July.
  10. Katharine G. Abraham & James L. Medoff, 1985. "Length of service and promotions in union and nonunion work groups," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 38(3), pages 408-420, April.
  11. Richard B. Freeman, 1982. "Union wage practices and wage dispersion within establishments," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 36(1), pages 3-21, October.
  12. Farrell Bloch & Mark S. Kuskin, 1978. "Wage determination in the union and nonunion sectors," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 31(2), pages 183-192, January.
  13. Barry T. Hirsch, 1982. "The interindustry structure of unionism, earnings, and earnings dispersion," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 36(1), pages 22-39, October.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Kuhn, Peter & Robert, Jacques, 1989. "Seniority and Distribution in a Two-Worker Trade Union," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 485-505, August.
  2. Reich, Michael, 2012. "The Rising Strength of Management, High Unemployment and Slow Growth: Revisiting Okun’s Law," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt8sc8s1z1, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
  3. Givord, Pauline & Maurin, Eric, 2003. "Job Tenure, Wages and Technology: A Reassessment Using Matched Worker-Firm Panel Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 4147, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  4. Carneiro, Anabela & Portugal, Pedro, 2006. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers: Evidence from a Matched Employer-Employee Data Set," IZA Discussion Papers 2289, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  5. Brown, Byron W. & Woodbury, Stephen A., 1998. "Seniority, external labor markets, and faculty pay," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 771-798.
  6. Don Mar & Paul Ong, 1994. "Race and rehiring in the high-tech industry," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 43-54, March.
  7. Daniel van Vuuren & Paul de Hek, 2010. "Are older workers overpaid? A literature review," CPB Discussion Paper 165, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
  8. Nicolas Williams, 2004. "Seniority, Experience, and Wages in the UK," University of Cincinnati, Economics Working Papers Series 2004-06, University of Cincinnati, Department of Economics.
  9. Devereux, Paul J. & Hart, Robert A. & Roberts, J. Elizabeth, 2013. "Job Spells, Employer Spells, and Wage Returns to Tenure," IZA Discussion Papers 7384, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  10. Lorenz, Wilhelm & Wagner, Joachim, 1989. "Tätigkeit im erlernten Beruf, Betriebszugehörigkeitsdauer und Arbeitseinkommen : eine ökonometrische Untersuchung mit Individualdaten für das Bundesland Bremen und ein metallverarbeitendes Unterne," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 22(4), pages 568-575.
  11. Lori G. Kletzer, 1998. "Job Displacement," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 115-136, Winter.
  12. repec:cdl:indrel:qt35g487jh is not listed on IDEAS
  13. repec:hal:journl:halshs-00202293 is not listed on IDEAS

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ilr:articl:v:42:y:1988:i:1:p:3-19

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (ILR Review).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.