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The duration of union membership: An empirical study

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  • Vaona, Andrea

Abstract

Thanks to direct access to union databanks, this paper can answer two new questions in Industrial Relations: how long union membership lasts and what are the determinants of its duration. This also allows to conceptualize union membership as a much more dynamic phenomenon than in previous studies, where it was considered a static situation whose causes or eþects were to be investigated. Survival analysis applied to a sample of 48705 workers highlights that union membership duration is a positive, though declining, function of age. Furthermore, women, "flexible" workers, foreign ones and those working in cities tend to show less attachment to union membership than the other workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Vaona, Andrea, 2006. "The duration of union membership: An empirical study," Kiel Working Papers 1268, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1268
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Vaona, 2010. "A survival analysis approach to the duration of union membership in Italy," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(11), pages 1089-1093.

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