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Falling Union Membership and Rising Wage Inequality: What's the Connection?

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  • David Card
Abstract
This paper presents new evidence on the effects of changing union membership on trends in wage dispersion in the U.S. labor market. I use data from the mid-1970s and early 1990s to compare union membership rates for workers in different deciles of the wage distribution, and to calculate the effects of shifting unionism on wage inequality. Among men, union rates have fallen for most groups, with larger declines among the lowest-wage workers. I estimate that the decline in unions explains 10-20 percent of the rise in male wage inequality over the past 25 years. Among women, union membership has fallen for low-wage workers but risen for high-wage workers, with little change overall. Shifting union patterns have therefore had little effect on female inequality, and may have actually accentuated the rise in inequality. Economy-wide trends in union membership mask a sharp divergence between the private sector, where unions have been declining, and the public sector, where union membership rates have actually risen for most groups. Calculations by sector suggest that unions have been a significant force in forestalling the rise in wage inequality among public sector workers of both genders.

Suggested Citation

  • David Card, 1998. "Falling Union Membership and Rising Wage Inequality: What's the Connection?," NBER Working Papers 6520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6520
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Addison, John T. & Siebert, W. Stanley, 2002. "Changes in Collective Bargaining in the U.K," IZA Discussion Papers 562, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. David Card & Thomas Lemieux, 2001. "Can Falling Supply Explain the Rising Return to College for Younger Men? A Cohort-Based Analysis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 705-746.
    4. Marie Leclair & Pascale Petit, 2004. "Présence syndicale dans les établissements : quel effet sur les inégalités salariales entre les hommes et les femmes ?," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques v04084, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    5. Panos, Georgios & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2010. "Unionism and Peer-Referencing," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2010-03, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    6. Frederic L. Pryor, 2004. "Economic Systems of OECD Nations: Impact and Evolution," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2004-14, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    7. Lisandro Abrego & John Whalley, 2002. "Decomposing Wage Inequality Change Using General Equilibrium Models," University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20022, University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute.
    8. Philipp Hühne & Dierk Herzer, 2017. "Is inequality an inevitable by-product of skill-biased technical change?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(18), pages 1346-1350, October.
    9. Lisandro Abrego & John Whalley, 1999. "The Choice of Structural Model in Trade-Wages Decompositions," CSGR Working papers series 34/99, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR), University of Warwick.
    10. Açıkgöz, Ömer Tuğrul & Kaymak, Barış, 2014. "The rising skill premium and deunionization," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 37-50.
    11. Töngür, Ünal & Elveren, Adem Yavuz, 2014. "Deunionization and pay inequality in OECD Countries: A panel Granger causality approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 417-425.
    12. David S. Loughran, 2000. "Does Variance Matter? The Effect of Rising Male Inequality on Female Age at First Marriage," Working Papers 00-12, RAND Corporation.
    13. Herzer, Dierk, 2014. "Unions and income inequality: a heterogenous cointegration and causality analysis," Working Paper 146/2014, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg.
    14. Erin Wolcott, 2024. "Did Racially Motivated Labor Policy Reverse Equality Gains for Everyone?," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 090, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    15. Lorenzo Corsini, 2012. "Institutions, Technological Change and Wage Differentials between Skilled and Unskilled Workers: Theory and Evidence from Europe," Research in Labor Economics, in: Research in Labor Economics, pages 1-33, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    16. Panos, Georgios A. & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2010. "Unionism and Peer-Referencing," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-122, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    17. Frederic Pryor, 2004. "Market Economic Systems," LIS Working papers 404, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    18. Pryor, Frederic L., 2005. "Market economic systems," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 25-46, March.
    19. Pallab Kumar Ghosh & Jae Yoon Lee, 2016. "Decomposition of Changes in Korean Wage Inequality, 1998–2007," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-28, March.
    20. Irac, D., 2000. "Estimation of a Time Varying NAIRU for France," Working papers 75, Banque de France.
    21. Eunice S. Han, 2023. "The effect of changes in public sector bargaining laws on teacher union membership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 133-158, March.
    22. Marie Leclair & Pascale Petit, 2004. "Présence syndicale dans les établissements : quel effet sur les salaires masculins et féminins ?," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 371(1), pages 23-47.
    23. Jeff Borland, 2000. "Economic Explanations of Earnings Distribution Trends in the International Literature and Application to New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 00/16, New Zealand Treasury.
    24. Basak Kus, 2012. "Financialisation and Income Inequality in OECD Nations:1995-2007," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(4), pages 477-495.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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