IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/udc/wpaper/wp567.html

The Dynamic Effects of Unionization on Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Gallardo
  • Esteban Puentes

Abstract

We study the dynamic effects of unionization on firm productivity in Chile using panel data from the Longitudinal Business Survey (ELE), conducted in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022. We identify as treated firms those that transition from no union presence to having at least one union during the sample period, and compare them to matched controls drawn from firms that remain non-unionized throughout. Employing a matched event study design with two within-sector matching specifications, we find that value added and TFP increase gradually, becoming statistically significant at four and five years after unionization. We find no statistically significant effect on the profit rate, consistent with productivity gains offsetting higher labor costs. Wages increase significantly at four years after unionization, and worker turnover declines significantly starting one period after unionization, consistent with the voice mechanism. We also find no significant effect on the share of subcontracted workers, which rejects the hypothesis that unionization induces firms to reorganize their labor relations through outsourcing.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Gallardo & Esteban Puentes, 2026. "The Dynamic Effects of Unionization on Productivity," Working Papers wp567, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp567
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econ-antiguo.fen.uchile.cl/uploads/publicacion/c370a767a7e5e951ab6e0cc648b6c7d8c7b3925e.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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:udc:wpaper:wp567. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Mohit Karnani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuclcl.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.