IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/iwqwdp/279814.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unionization of retired workers in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Pyka, Vinzenz
  • Schnabel, Claus

Abstract

We shed light on an understudied group: retirees in unions. Using representative individual-level data of 19 European countries, we find that the share of retirees in unions and the union density of retirees increased between 2008 and 2020. Econometric analyses indicate that on average retired workers' probability of union membership is 17 percentage points lower than that of active workers. This finding is consistent with social custom models and cost-benefit considerations. We further find that some determinants of union membership differ between active and retired workers and that standard membership models better explain the unionization of active than retired workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Pyka, Vinzenz & Schnabel, Claus, 2023. "Unionization of retired workers in Europe," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 06/2023, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:279814
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/279814/1/1870356500.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger B. Newson & Milena Falcaro, 2023. "Robit regression in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 23(3), pages 658-682, September.
    2. Bruno Chiarini, 1999. "The Composition of Union Membership: The Role of Pensioners in Italy," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 37(4), pages 577-600, December.
    3. Schnabel, Claus, 2020. "Union membership and collective bargaining: Trends and determinants," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 06/2020, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    4. Alison L. Booth, 1985. "The Free Rider Problem and a Social Custom Model of Trade Union Membership," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(1), pages 253-261.
    5. John H. Pencavel, 1971. "The Demand for Union Services: An Exercise," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 24(2), pages 180-190, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Munimus, Bettina & Schroeder, Wolfgang, 2011. "Gewerkschaften als Interessenvertreter der älteren Generation?," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 64(3), pages 107-114.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Fenet Jima Bedaso & Uwe Jirjahn, 2024. "Immigrants and trade union membership: Does integration into society and workplace play a moderating role?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 262-292, June.
    2. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2005. "Who Are the Workers Who Never Joined a Union? Empirical Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 1658, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Askenazy, Philippe & Breda, Thomas, 2020. "Electoral Democracy at Work," IZA Discussion Papers 13226, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2003. "Trade Union Membership in Eastern and Western Germany: Convergence or Divergence?," IZA Discussion Papers 707, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Schnabel, Claus, 2012. "Union Membership and Density: Some (Not So) Stylized Facts and Challenges," IZA Discussion Papers 6792, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2003. "Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Western Germany: Evidence from Micro Data, 1980-2000," IZA Discussion Papers 708, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Goerke, Laszlo, 1997. "Taxes in an open shop trade union model," Discussion Papers, Series II 346, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    8. Paul Willman & Alex Bryson & John Forth, 2020. "UK Unions, Collective Action and the Cost Disease," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 447-470, June.
    9. Flemming Ibsen & Laust Høgedahl & Steen Scheuer, 2013. "Free riders: the rise of alternative unionism in Denmark," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5-6), pages 444-461, November.
    10. Jirjahn, Uwe, 2021. "Membership in Employers' Associations and Collective Bargaining Coverage in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 14783, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2005. "Determinants of Union Membership in 18 EU Countries: Evidence from Micro Data, 2002/03," IZA Discussion Papers 1464, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Bruno Chiarini & Paolo Piselli, 2012. "Equilibrium earning premium and pension schemes: The long-run macroeconomic effects of the union," Discussion Papers 2_2012, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    13. Schnabel, Claus, 2002. "Determinants of trade union membership," Discussion Papers 15, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    14. Checchi, Daniele & Visser, Jelle & van de Werfhorst, Herman G., 2007. "Inequality and Union Membership: The Impact of Relative Earnings Position and Inequality Attitudes," IZA Discussion Papers 2691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Kevin Pineda‐Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "How collective bargaining shapes poverty: New evidence for developed countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 895-928, December.
    16. Bruno Amable, 2009. "The Differentiation of Social Demands in Europe. The Social Basis of the European Models of Capitalism," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(3), pages 391-426, May.
    17. Alex Bryson & Lucy Stokes & David Wilkinson, 2023. "Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 129-144, January.
    18. James Bishop & Iris Chan, 2019. "Is Declining Union Membership Contributing to Low Wages Growth?," RBA Annual Conference Papers acp2019-06, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    19. Olivier Guillot & Magali Jaoul-Grammare & Isabelle Terraz, 2019. "Union Membership in France: An Empirical Study," Working Papers of BETA 2019-04, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    20. Philippe Aghion & Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc, 2011. "Civil Society And The State: The Interplay Between Cooperation And Minimum Wage Regulation," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 3-42, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade union; retirement; union membership; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:iwqwdp:279814. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vierlde.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.