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Youth-adult differences in the demand for unionization: are American, British and Canadian workers all that different?

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  • Bryson, Alex
  • Gomez, Rafael
  • Gunderson, Morley
  • Meltz, Noah

Abstract

This paper examines demand for union membership amongst young workers in Britain, Canada and the United States. The paper benchmarks youth demands for collective representation against those of adult workers and finds that a large and significant representation gap exists in all three countries. Using a model of representation advanced by Farber (1982) and Riddell (1993) we find that a majority of the union density differential between young and adult workers is due to supply-side constraints rather than a lower desire for unionisation on the part of the young. This finding lends credence to two conjectures made in the paper; the first is that tastes for collective representation do not differ among workers (either by nationality or by age) and second that union representation can be fruitfully modelled as an experience good. The experience good properties of union membership explain the persistence of union density differentials amongst youth and adults both over time and across countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Bryson, Alex & Gomez, Rafael & Gunderson, Morley & Meltz, Noah, 2002. "Youth-adult differences in the demand for unionization: are American, British and Canadian workers all that different?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 4956, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:4956
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Porter, Michael E, 1974. "Consumer Behavior, Retailer Power and Market Performance in Consumer Goods Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 56(4), pages 419-436, November.
    2. Henry S. Farber, 2001. "Notes on the Economics of Labor Unions," Working Papers 831, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    3. Gomez, Rafael & Lipset, Seymour Martin & Meltz, Noah, 2001. "Frustrated demand for unionisation: the case of the United States and Canada revisited," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20126, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Henry S. Farber, 1982. "The Determination of the Union Status of Workers," NBER Working Papers 1006, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. W. Craig Riddell, 1993. "Unionization in Canada and the United States: A Tale of Two Countries," NBER Chapters, in: Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States, pages 109-148, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Stephen Machin, 2000. "Union Decline in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 631-645, December.
    7. Card, David & Freeman, Richard B. (ed.), 1993. "Small Differences That Matter," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226092836, Febrero.
    8. Farber, Henry S., 1983. "The Determination of the Union Status of Workers," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 227, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    9. Rafael Gomez & Morley Gunderson & Noah Meltz, 2001. "From Playstations to Workstations: Youth Preferences for Unionisation in Canada," CEP Discussion Papers dp0512, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. H. S. Farber, 1982. "The Determination of the Union Status of Workers," Working papers 299, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michele Campolieti & Rafael Gomez & Morley Gunderson, 2013. "D oes N on-Union E mployee R epresentation A ct as a C omplement or S ubstitute to U nion V oice? E vidence from C anada and the U nited S tates," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52, pages 378-396, January.
    2. Epp Kallaste & Charles Woolfson, 2009. "The Paradox of Post-Communist Trade Unionism: ‘You Can't Want What You Can't Imagine’," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 20(1), pages 93-109, December.
    3. Giovanni Dosi & Richard B Freeman & Marcelo C Pereira & Andrea Roventini & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2021. "The impact of deunionization on the growth and dispersion of productivity and pay [It’s where you work: increases in the dispersion of earnings across establishments and individuals in the United S," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(2), pages 377-408.
    4. Helen Lam & Mark Harcourt, 2007. "A New Approach to Resolving the Right-to-work Ethical Dilemma," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 231-243, July.
    5. Jonathan E. Booth & John W. Budd & Kristen M. Munday, 2010. "First-Timers and Late-Bloomers: Youth—Adult Unionization Differences in a Cohort of the U.S. Labor Force," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(1), pages 53-73, October.
    6. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2005. "Determinants of Union Membership in 18 EU Countries : Evidence from Micro Data, 2002/03," Discussion Papers 31, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    7. José-Ignacio Antón & René Böheim & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2022. "The effect of migration on unionization in Austria," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2693-2720, November.
    8. Nickolaos Giovanis & Efstratios Giovanis, 2020. "Assessment On The Change Of Union Density Rate By Means Of Macroeconomic Indicators: A Quantitative Research," Noble International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Noble Academic Publsiher, vol. 5(6), pages 63-73, June.
    9. Schnabel, Claus, 2012. "Union membership and density: Some (not so) stylized facts and challenges," Discussion Papers 81, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    10. Jonathan E. Booth & John W. Budd & Kristen M. Munday, 2010. "Never Say Never? Uncovering the Never‐Unionized in the United States," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 26-52, March.
    11. Alex Bryson & Rhys Davies, 2019. "Family, Place and the Intergenerational Transmission of Union Membership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 624-650, September.
    12. Craig Berry & Sean McDaniel, 2022. "Post-crisis precarity: Understanding attitudes to work and industrial relations among young people in the UK," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 322-343, February.
    13. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2020. "Do Public Subsidies of Union Membership Increase Union Membership Rates?," DoQSS Working Papers 20-14, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    14. Alex Bryson & Richard Freeman & Rafael Gomez & Paul Willman, 2017. "The Twin Track Model of Employee Voice: An Anglo-American Perspective on Union Decline and the Rise of Alternative Forms of Voice," DoQSS Working Papers 17-13, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    15. Peter Haynes & Peter Holland & Amanda Pyman & Julian Teicher, 2008. "Free-Riding in Australia," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 29(1), pages 7-34, February.
    16. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2022. "Turning Non-members into Members: Do Public Subsidies to Union Membership Matter?," DoQSS Working Papers 22-05, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    17. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2022. "Union Membership Peaks in Midlife," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(1), pages 124-151, March.
    18. Rachel Aleks & Tina Saksida & Aaron S. Wolf, 2021. "Hero or Villain? A Cohort and Generational Analysis of How Youth Attitudes Towards Unions Have Changed over Time," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 532-567, June.
    19. Christopher Gordon Smith & Tingting Zhang & Lorenzo Frangi & Linda Duxbury, 2023. "Would you like to become a union leader? Analysing leadership intentions through a generational lens," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 425-444, November.
    20. Daniele Checchi & Jelle Visser & Herman G. Van De Werfhorst, 2010. "Inequality and Union Membership: The Influence of Relative Earnings and Inequality Attitudes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 84-108, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unions; youth preferences; comparative labour markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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