IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/wpaper/3092.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unions and Employment in Uruguay

Author

Listed:
  • Adriana Cassoni
  • Steven G. Allen
  • Gaston J. Labadie

Abstract

This study examines the impact of unions on wages and employment using data from Uruguay in a period when unions were banned (1973-1984), then legalized with tripartite bargaining (1984-1991) followed by industry-wide or firm-specific bargaining (1992-1997). The relationship between wages and employment shifted significantly across these periods as evidenced by recursive residuals, which show structural shifts in five of six industries, with the shifts coming at the same time as the regime changes. Wages are exogenous to employment before 1985, but not afterwards. Wage elasticity and the employment-output elasticity fell sharply after 1984. Unions significantly raised wages in 1985-1992, but afterwards the change in bargaining structure and increased openness led to concessions. Starting in 1985, workers in unionized industries were less likely to be laid off than workers in nonunion industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Adriana Cassoni & Steven G. Allen & Gaston J. Labadie, 2000. "Unions and Employment in Uruguay," Research Department Publications 3092, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:wpaper:3092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=R-392&pub_file_name=pubR-392.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Quah, Danny, 1989. "The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 655-673, September.
    2. Rama, Martin, 1997. "Organized Labor and the Political Economy of Product Market Distortions," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 327-355, May.
    3. Machin, Stephen J & Wadhwani, Sushil, 1991. "The Effects of Unions on Organisational Change and Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(407), pages 835-854, July.
    4. Richard B. Freeman, 1980. "The Exit-Voice Tradeoff in the Labor Market: Unionism, Job Tenure, Quits, and Separations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 94(4), pages 643-673.
    5. Ken Binmore & Ariel Rubinstein & Asher Wolinsky, 1986. "The Nash Bargaining Solution in Economic Modelling," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(2), pages 176-188, Summer.
    6. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
    7. Adriana Cassoni & Zuleika Ferré, 1997. "Costos no salariales en el mercado de trabajo del Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0897, Department of Economics - dECON.
    8. Burgess, Simon M & Dolado, Juan J, 1989. "Intertemporal Rules with Variable Speed of Adjustment: An Application to U.K. Manufacturing Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(396), pages 347-365, June.
    9. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Gerard A. Pfann, 1996. "Adjustment Costs in Factor Demand," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 1264-1292, September.
    10. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    11. Medoff, James L, 1979. "Layoffs and Alternatives under Trade Unions in U.S. Manufacturing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(3), pages 380-395, June.
    12. Steven G Allen & Adriana Cassoni & Gastón J Labadie, 1996. "Wages and Employment After Reunionization in Uruguay," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 33(99), pages 277-294.
    13. Olivier J. Blanchard & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 15-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1139-1181 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Burgess, Simon M, 1988. "Employment Adjustment in UK Manufacturing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(389), pages 81-103, March.
    16. Carruth, Alan A & Oswald, Andrew J, 1987. "On Union Preferences and Labour Market Models: Insiders and Outsi ders," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(386), pages 431-445, June.
    17. Steven Allen & Adriana Cassoni & Gastón J. Labadie, 1994. "Labor market flexibility and unemployment in Chile and Uruguay," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 21(esp Year ), pages 127-146, November.
    18. Spanos,Aris, 1986. "Statistical Foundations of Econometric Modelling," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521269124.
    19. Lewis, H Gregg, 1990. "Union/Nonunion Wage Gaps in the Public Sector," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 260-328, January.
    20. Richard B. Freeman & Casey Ichniowski, 1988. "When Public Sector Workers Unionize," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number free88-1, March.
    21. D. Blanchflower, 1984. "Union Relative Wage Effects: A Cross Section Analysis Using Establishment Data," Working Papers 106, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    22. Banerjee, Anindya & Dolado, Juan J. & Galbraith, John W. & Hendry, David, 1993. "Co-integration, Error Correction, and the Econometric Analysis of Non-Stationary Data," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288107, Decembrie.
    23. Philippe Aghion & Gilles Saint‐Paul, 1998. "Uncovering Some Causal Relationships Between Productivity Growth and the Structure of Economic Fluctuations: A Tentative Survey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 12(2), pages 279-303, July.
    24. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    25. Blanchard, Olivier J. & Summers, Lawrence H., 1987. "Hysteresis in unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 288-295.
    26. William M. Boal & John Pencavel, 1994. "The Effects of Labor Unions on Employment, Wages, and Days of Operation: Coal Mining in West Virginia," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 267-298.
    27. Lockwood, Ben & Manning, Alan, 1989. "Dynamic Wage-Employment Bargaining with Employment Adjustment Costs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(398), pages 1143-1158, December.
    28. Richard B. Freeman, 1980. "The Exit-Voice Tradeoff in the Labor Market: Unionism, Job Tenure, Quits," NBER Working Papers 0242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Freeman, Richard B & Medoff, James L, 1982. "Substitution between Production Labor and Other Inputs in Unionized and Nonunionized Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(2), pages 220-233, May.
    30. Engle, Robert F. & Yoo, Byung Sam, 1987. "Forecasting and testing in co-integrated systems," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 143-159, May.
    31. Allen, Steven G, 1986. "Union Work Rules and Efficiency in the Building Trades," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 212-242, April.
    32. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1993. "Labor Demand and the Source of Adjustment Costs," NBER Working Papers 4394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Giorgio Galeazzi & Daniel S. Hamermesh (ed.), 1993. "Dynamic Labor Demand And Adjustment Costs," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 551.
    34. Johansen, Soren, 1988. "Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 231-254.
    35. Blanchflower, David G & Millward, Neil & Oswald, Andrew J, 1991. "Unionism and Employment Behaviour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(407), pages 815-834, July.
    36. James G. MacKinnon, 1990. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests," Working Paper 1227, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    37. Stanley Fischer, 1986. "NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fisc86-1, March.
    38. Stanley Fischer, 1986. "Editorial in NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 3-8, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Mariano Tommasi & Silvana Tenreyro, 2001. "Comments on Dani Rodrik's "Why Is There So Much Economic Insecurity in Latin America?"," Working Papers 28, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Mar 2001.
    2. Richard B. Freeman, 2009. "Labor Regulations, Unions, and Social Protection in Developing Countries: Market distortions or Efficient Institutions?," NBER Working Papers 14789, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. A. Cassoni & G. Fachola & G. Labadie, 2001. "The impact of unions on the economic performance of firms," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1501, Department of Economics - dECON.
    4. Lichter, Andreas & Peichl, Andreas & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "The own-wage elasticity of labor demand: A meta-regression analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 94-119.
    5. Daniel Miles & Máximo Rossi, 2001. "Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: Market Forces or Government Intervention," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1001, Department of Economics - dECON.
    6. Carlos A. Arango & Ängela Milena Rojas, 2003. "Demanda Laboral en el Sector Manufacturero Colombiano:1977-1999," Borradores de Economia 2270, Banco de la Republica.
    7. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Maloney, William F., 2005. "Labor demand and trade reform in Latin America," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 423-446, July.
    8. Adriana Cassoni, 1999. "The wage elasticity of labour demand in the Uruguayan manufacturing sector after re-unionisation: new results," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1499, Department of Economics - dECON.
    9. Carlos A. Arango & Ángela Milena Rojas, 2003. "Demanda laboral y reforma comercial en el sector manufacturero colombiano: 1977-1999," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, December.
    10. Jairo Guillermo Isaza Castro & Carlos Arturo Meza Carvajalino, 2004. "La demanda de trabajo:Aspectos teóricos y evidencia empírica para Colombia," Serie de Documentos en Economía y Violencia 2965, Centro de Investigaciones en Violencia, Instituciones y Desarrollo Económico (VIDE).
    11. Adriana Cassoni, 2005. "¿Cuánto empleo están generando las exoneraciones fiscales en el Uruguay?," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1605, Department of Economics - dECON.
    12. Giuseppe Bertola, 2005. "Distribution, Efficiency, and Labor Market Regulation: in Theory, in OECD Countries, and in Latin America," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Jorge Restrepo & Andrea Tokman R. & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Series Edi (ed.),Labor Markets and Institutions, edition 1, volume 8, chapter 2, pages 017-060, Central Bank of Chile.
    13. Fernando Rios-Avila, 2017. "Unions and Economic Performance in Developing Countries: Case Studies from Latin America," Revista Ecos de Economía, Universidad EAFIT, vol. 21(44), pages 4-36, June.
    14. Maribel Castillo Caicedo & Geovanny Castro Aristizabal & Diana Marcela Escandón Barbosa, 2010. "Demanda laboral de profesionales en ciencias económicas, administrativas e ingeniería en Cali 2009: ¿van de la mano el capital humano y la señalización?," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 5, in: María Jesús Mancebón-Torrubia & Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún & José María Gómez-Sancho & Gregorio Gim (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 5, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 42, pages 825-846, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    15. Freeman, Richard B., 2010. "Labor Regulations, Unions, and Social Protection in Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4657-4702, Elsevier.
    16. Casacuberta, Carlos & Gandelman, Néstor, 2023. "Wage councils, product markups and wage markdowns: Evidence from Uruguay," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Adriana Cassoni & Gaston J. Labadie & Gabriela Fachola, 2002. "The Economic Effects of Unions in Latin America: Their Impact on Wages and the Economic Performance of Firms in Uruguay," Research Department Publications 3159, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    18. Saavedra-Chanduví, Jaime & Torero, Máximo, 2002. "Union Density Changes and Union Effects on Firm Performance in Peru," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3282, Inter-American Development Bank.
    19. Mauricio Zunino, 2012. "Impactos de la reinstauración de los Consejos de Salarios sobre la distribución salarial en Uruguay," Económica, Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, vol. 0, pages 129-167, January-D.
    20. Ben Salha, Ousama, 2013. "Does economic globalization affect the level and volatility of labor demand by skill? New insights from the Tunisian manufacturing industries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 572-597.
    21. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2004. "Labor Demand in Latin America and the Caribbean. What Does It Tell Us?," NBER Chapters, in: Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean, pages 553-562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Adriana Cassoni, 2001. "Unemployment and precariousness of employment in Uruguay: who are the losers?," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1601, Department of Economics - dECON.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adriana Cassoni, 1999. "Labour demand in Uruguay before and after re-unionisation," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0199, Department of Economics - dECON.
    2. Adriana Cassoni & Steven G. Allen & Gaston J. Labadie, 2000. "The Effect of Unions on Employment: Evidence from an Unnatural Experiment in Uruguay," NBER Working Papers 7501, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Adriana Cassoni & Steven G. Allen & Gaston J. Labadie, 2000. "Sindicatos y empleo en Uruguay," Research Department Publications 3093, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    4. Blanchflower, David G, 1991. "Fear, Unemployment and Pay Flexibility," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(406), pages 483-496, May.
    5. Enn Lun Yong, 2019. "Unemployment and the European Union, 2000–2017: structural exploration of distant past economic experience and future prosperity," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:2985-3028 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. A. Cassoni & G. Fachola & G. Labadie, 2001. "The impact of unions on the economic performance of firms," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1501, Department of Economics - dECON.
    8. Francisco Cabo & Angel Martín-Román, 2019. "Dynamic collective bargaining and labor adjustment costs," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 103-133, March.
    9. Kurmaş Akdoğan, 2017. "Unemployment hysteresis and structural change in Europe," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1415-1440, December.
    10. Dolado, Juan J. & Jimeno, Juan F., 1997. "The causes of Spanish unemployment: A structural VAR approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 1281-1307, July.
    11. Mayes, David G. & Vilmunen, Jouko, 1999. "Unemployment in a small open economy: Finland and New Zealand," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 10/1999, Bank of Finland.
    12. Aidt, T.S. & Tzannatos, Z., 2005. "The Cost and Benefits of Collective Bargaining," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0541, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    13. Lütkepohl,Helmut & Krätzig,Markus (ed.), 2004. "Applied Time Series Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521547871.
    14. Paulo R. Mota & Abel L. C. Fernandes & Paulo B. Vasconcelos, 2018. "Employment Hysteresis: An Argument For Avoiding Front-Loaded Fiscal Consolidations In The Eurozone," FEP Working Papers 610, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    15. Adrian C. Darnell, 1994. "A Dictionary Of Econometrics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 118.
    16. Pérez-Alonso Alicia & Di Sanzo Silvestro, 2010. "Unemployment and Hysteresis: A Nonlinear Unobserved Components Approach," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 1-29, December.
    17. Kilponen, Juha & Mayes, David & Vilmunen, Jouko, 1999. "Labour Market Flexibility in Northern Europe," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa088, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Helmut Luetkepohl, 2007. "Econometric Analysis with Vector Autoregressive Models," Economics Working Papers ECO2007/11, European University Institute.
    19. Magnus Gustavsson & Pär Österholm, 2007. "Does Unemployment Hysteresis Equal Employment Hysteresis?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(261), pages 159-173, June.
    20. Österholm, Pär, 2010. "Unemployment and labour-force participation in Sweden," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 205-208, March.
    21. Ulrich Fritsche & Camille Logeay, 2002. "Structural Unemployment and the Output Gap in Germany: Evidence from an SVAR Analysis within a Hysteresis Framework," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 312, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:idb:wpaper:3092. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.