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Returns to Seniority in Union and Nonunion Jobs: A New Look at the Evidence

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  • 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharine G. Abraham & Henry S. Farber, 1988. "Returns to Seniority in Union and Nonunion Jobs: A New Look at the Evidence," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 42(1), pages 3-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:42:y:1988:i:1:p:3-19
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Anabela Carneiro & Pedro Portugal, 2006. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers: Evidence from a Matched Employer-employee Data Set," CEF.UP Working Papers 0607, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    3. Krusell, Per & Rudanko, Leena, 2016. "Unions in a frictional labor market," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 35-50.
    4. Michael Reich, 2013. "The rising strength of management, high unemployment, and slow growth; revisiting Okun's Law," Chapters, in: Jeannette Wicks-Lim & Robert Pollin (ed.), Capitalism on Trial, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Devereux, Paul J & Hart, Robert A & Roberts, J Elizabeth, 2013. "Job spells, employer spells, and wage returns to tenure," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2013-01, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    6. Björklund, Anders & Åkerman, Jeanette, 1989. "Piece-Rates, On-the-Job Training and the Wage-Tenure Profile," Working Paper Series 246, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    7. Lorenz, Wilhelm & Wagner, Joachim, 1989. "Tätigkeit im erlernten Beruf, Betriebszugehörigkeitsdauer und Arbeitseinkommen : eine ökonometrische Untersuchung mit Individualdaten für das Bundesland Bremen und ein metallverarbeitendes Unternehmen in Hessen," 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.
    8. Pedro Portugal & Pedro S. Raposo, 2015. "Decomposing the wage losses of displaced workers: the role of the reallocation of workers into firms and job titles," Working Papers w201511, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    9. 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.
    10. Don Mar & Paul Ong, 1994. "Race and rehiring in the high-tech industry," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 43-54, March.
    11. Lorenz, Wilhelm & Wagner, Joachim, 1989. "Tätigkeit im erlernten Beruf, Betriebszugehörigkeitsdauer und Arbeitseinkommen : eine ökonometrische Untersuchung mit Individualdaten für das Bundesland Bremen und ein metallverarbeitendes Unternehmen," 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.
    12. repec:cdl:indrel:qt35g487jh is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Daniel Bird & Alexander Frug, 2019. "Monotone contracts," Economics Working Papers 1647, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    14. Wouter den Haan & Michal Kobielarz & Pontus Rendahl, 2015. "Exact Present Solution with Consistent Future Approximation: A Gridless Algorithm to Solve Stochastic Dynamic Models," Discussion Papers 1536, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
    15. Maurin, Eric & Givord, Pauline, 2003. "Job Tenure, Wages and Technology: A Reassessment Using Matched Worker-Firm Panel Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 4147, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    16. Williams, Nicolas, 2009. "Seniority, experience, and wages in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 272-283, June.
    17. Bhanu Pratap Singh & Akash Yadav & Kailash Chandra Pradhan, 2024. "Decomposing the Certified and Uncertified Skill Wage Gap for Production Workers in India," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 888-916, March.
    18. Paul Hek & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "Are older workers overpaid? A literature review," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(4), pages 436-460, August.
    19. Keith A. Bender & Peter J. Sloane, 1998. "Job Satisfaction, Trade Unions, and Exit-Voice Revisited," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(2), pages 222-240, January.
    20. Hart, Robert A & Ma, Yue, 2013. "Overtime Working and Contract Efficiency," SIRE Discussion Papers 2013-121, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    21. Lori G. Kletzer, 1998. "Job Displacement," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 115-136, Winter.
    22. David Margolis & Christophe Starzec, 2005. "Les prestations sociales et l'offre de travail: Y a-t-il une trappe à inactivité?," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00202293, HAL.

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