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Immigrants and Trade Union Membership: Does Integration into Society and Workplace Play a Moderating Role?

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  • Bedaso, Fenet Jima
  • Jirjahn, Uwe
  • Goerke, Laszlo

Abstract

We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel, our empirical analysis confirms a unionization gap for first-generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, the analysis shows that the immigrant-native gap in union membership indeed depends on immigrants' integration into the workplace and society. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Bedaso, Fenet Jima & Jirjahn, Uwe & Goerke, Laszlo, 2022. "Immigrants and Trade Union Membership: Does Integration into Society and Workplace Play a Moderating Role?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1169, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1169
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    Cited by:

    1. Jirjahn, Uwe & Le, Thi Xuan Thu, 2023. "Works Councils and Workers' Party Preferences in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 15879, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Union membership; migration; works council; social contacts with natives; years since arrival;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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