Why So Unhappy? The Effects of Unionisation on Job Satisfaction
Abstract
We use linked employer-employee data to investigate the job satisfaction effect of unionisation in Britain. We depart from previous studies by developing a model that simultaneously controls for the endogeneity of union membership and union recognition. We show that a negative association between membership and satisfaction only emerges where there is a union recognised for bargaining, and that such an effect vanishes when the simultaneous selection into membership and recognition is taken into account. We also show that ignoring endogenous recognition would lead to conclude that membership has a positive effect on satisfaction. Our estimates indicate that the unobserved factors that lead to sorting across workplaces are negatively related to the ones determining membership and positively related with those generating satisfaction, a result that we interpret as being consistent with the existence of queues for union jobs.Download Info
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1498.Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2005
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2010, 72 (3), 357-380
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1498
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Related research
Keywords: job satisfaction; union membership; union recognition; endogeneity;Other versions of this item:
- Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2010. "Why So Unhappy? The Effects of Unionization on Job Satisfaction," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(3), pages 357-380, 06.
- Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2005. "Why so Unhappy? The Effects of Unionisation on Job Satisfaction," CESifo Working Paper Series 1419, CESifo Group Munich.
- J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
- J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2005-02-27 (All new papers)
- NEP-BEC-2005-02-27 (Business Economics)
- NEP-LAB-2005-02-27 (Labour Economics)
- NEP-LTV-2005-02-27 (Unemployment, Inequality & Poverty)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease 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.:
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University of Western Ontario, CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity Working Papers
20033, University of Western Ontario, CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity.
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CEP Discussion Papers
dp0569, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- repec:lan:wpaper:2914 is not listed on IDEAS
- Haile, Getinet Astatike & Bryson, Alex & White, Michael, 2012. "Heterogeneity in Union Status and Employee Well-Being," IZA Discussion Papers 7075, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Haile, Getinet Astatike, 2009. "Workplace Job Satisfaction in Britain: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 4101, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Christine Erhel & Lucie Davoine, 2007.
"La qualité de l'emploi en Europe : une approche comparative et dynamique,"
Économie et Statistique,
Programme National Persée, vol. 410(1), pages 47-69.
- Lucie Davoine & Christine Erhel, 2007. "La qualité de l'emploi en Europe: une approche comparative et dynamique," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00272017, HAL.
- Lucie Davoine & Christine Erhel, 2008. "La qualité de l'emploi en Europe : une approche comparative et dynamique," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00311365, HAL.
- Benjamin Artz, 2008. "Fringe Benefits and Job Satisfaction," Working Papers 08-03, UW-Whitewater, Department of Economics.
- Colin Green & J S Heywood, 2010. "Unions, Dissatisfied Workers and Sorting," Working Papers 615292, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
- repec:ese:iserwp:2008-30 is not listed on IDEAS
- Fiorillo, Damiano & Nappo, Nunzia, 2011.
"Job satisfaction in Italy: individual characteristics and social relations,"
MPRA Paper
31133, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Damiano Fiorillo & Nunzia Nappo, 2011. "Job satisfaction in Italy: individual characteristics and social relations," Discussion Papers 5_2011, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
- Fiorillo, D; & Nappo, N;, 2011. "Job satisfaction in Italy: Individual characteristics and social relations," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 11/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
- Benjamin Artz, 2010. "Fringe benefits and job satisfaction," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 31(6), pages 626-644, September.
- repec:lan:wpaper:2912 is not listed on IDEAS
- repec:lan:wpaper:3161 is not listed on IDEAS
- Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2009. "How Does Innovation Affect Worker Well-being?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0953, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
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