bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cost-of-Living Escalators and Price-Wage Linkages in the U.S. Economy, 1968–1980
Authors: Vroman Wayne
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the importance of cost-of-living escalator clauses as a link between price changes and money wage changes. It surveys the possible kinds of price-wage linkages and estimates the importance of COLAs in overall wage changes in the economy. The author concludes that despite growth in the coverage and yields of escalator clauses since the mid-1960s, they still accounted in 1980 for less than 10 percent of total money wage changes in the U.S. economy and are therefore not a major cause of inflation.
The Impact of the Collyer Policy of Deferral: An Empirical Study
Authors: Wolkinson Benjamin W.
Published: June 2015

This study reports the results of an examination of NLRB regional office records on 50 cases deferred to arbitration under the Collyer policy, together with the results of interviews with union representatives involved in those cases. The author compares the remedies unions achieved through the grievance-arbitration process in deferred unfair labor practice cases considered meritorious by the regional office with the remedies the regional office would probably have implemented in the absence of deferral. The data indicate that deferral of 8(a)(5) cases frequently resulted in outcomes not compatible with statutory objectives, particularly in cases resolved short of arbitration. In contrast, Collyer very often produced statutorily compatible decisions in 8(a)(3) cases. Finally, in some cases unions achieved gains in the grievance procedure that they probably would not have won had they relied solely on the Board's compliance process.
Male-Female Wage Differences: The Importance of Compensating Differentials
Authors: Filer Randall K.
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the extent to which differences in average earnings between men and women may be the result of sorting by the sexes into jobs with different average levels of disagreeable and agreeable working conditions. An analysis of data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey shows that, on average, men and women hold jobs with substantially different working conditions and that these differences are of a pattern suggesting the need to pay higher wages to attract employees to the jobs held by men. Estimation of wage equations shows that these differences in working conditions contribute significantly to the ability to explain average earnings for each sex.
Worker Attitudes, Worker Behavior, and Productivity in the U.S. Automobile Industry, 1959–1976
Authors: Norsworthy J. R. , Zabala Craig A.
Published: June 2015

This study tests both a standard model of the production process and an augmented model that incorporates a linkage from worker attitudes to total factor productivity and the total unit cost of production. The authors estimate these models with data on the U.S. automobile industry for the years 1959–76, including plant-level data on grievances, quits, and unauthorized strike activity that provide the basis for an index of the effects of worker attitudes. The augmented model, including that index, is significantly more successful than the standard model in explaining variations in productivity and costs. During the years studied, worker attitudes negatively influenced productivity growth and unit costs, resulting from the failure of both management and labor to create a satisfactory work environment.
The Temporary Help Industry: A Response to the Dual Internal Labor Market
Authors: Mangum Garth , Mayall Donald , Nelson Kristin
Published: June 2015

This study of the rapidly growing temporary help industry draws on Commerce Department data and the results of the authors' national mail survey of employers. The authors also conducted interviews in the San Francisco area with employers of temporary help and with representatives of temporary help agencies and labor unions. They provide a taxonomy of employer responses to temporary increases in work loads, ranging from the more intensive use of full-time employees to a variety of arrangements with part-time, temporary, and casual employees. The authors show how these employer responses vary by industry, occupation, size of the firm, stability of product demand, and the level of fringe benefits.
The New Deal, Collective Bargaining, and the Triumph of Industrial Pluralism
Authors: Tomlins Christopher L.
Published: June 2015

This paper addresses what the author views as a prevailing misconception of labor law theorists and practitioners: that the goal of the Wagner Act was no more than the promotion of peaceful negotiating procedures and written agreements between organized interests—unions and employers—presumptively equal in power. The author argues that in fact the NLRA was drafted, and for a time implemented, with the avowed purpose of giving workers equality with employers in all aspects of industrial policy making, and that the now-prevalent approach became ascendant only after considerable conflict and the displacement of the Act's original administrators.
The NLRA at Fifty: A Research Appraisal and Agenda
Authors: Delaney John Thomas , Lewin David , Sockell Donna
Published: June 2015

A survey of fifty years of research on the Wagner and Taft-Hartley Acts reveals that researchers' conclusions about the NLRA and its enforcement have generally depended upon their perceptions of the law's purpose; most researchers do not seem to consult relevant research outside their own disciplines; and some important aspects of the NLRA have received little attention. The authors recommend, among other things, that future studies focus on the law's impact on workers, unions, and employers, rather than on the congressional intent behind the NLRA.
Unionization and Productivity in Office Building and School Construction
Authors: Allen Steven G.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the difference in productivity between union and nonunion contractors in the construction industry within two samples, one of 83 commercial office buildings completed in 1973–74 and the other of 68 elementary and secondary schools completed in 1972. An analysis that includes controls for differences in capital-labor ratios, observable labor quality, region, and building characteristics shows that union productivity in the office building projects was at least 30 percent higher than nonunion productivity, measured in terms of square feet of floor space completed per hour worked; and from zero to 20 percent higher in school projects, measured in physical units and value added, respectively.
Collective Bargaining, Interest Arbitration, and Police Salaries
Authors: Feuille Peter , Delaney John Thomas
Published: June 2015

Previous research and conventional wisdom suggest that the practice of collective bargaining, the availability of interest arbitration, and the use of arbitration when available all have a positive effect on salaries. In this study, believed to be the first to incorporate all those variables, the authors analyze data on police salaries in more than 900 cities during the 1971–81 period. The results show that collective bargaining and the availability of arbitration do have positive although modest effects on salaries, but in states providing the arbitration option, salaries do not differ significantly between cities that use the option and those that do not.
Unemployment Insurance Overpayments: Evidence and Implications
Authors: Kingston Jerry L. , Burgess Paul L. , St. Louis Robert D.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents the principal findings of the most comprehensive study yet undertaken of payment errors in the unemployment insurance (UI) program. Among the five states studied—Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Washington—the percentage of benefit weeks with payment errors ranged in 1981–82 from 12 percent to 52 percent, with an average of 26 percent. In each state, overpayments greatly exceeded underpayments, with inadequate job search efforts the primary cause of the overpayments found. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for previous research and for UI program administration.
A Yo-Yo Model of Cooperation: Union Participation in Management at the Rath Packing Company
Authors: Hammer Tove H. , Stern Robert N.
Published: June 2015

The authors hypothesize that union leaders who enter into union-management cooperative programs alternate between cooperative and adversarial behavior: they agree to cooperate in order to avert corporate ruin or obtain benefits, but revert to their adversarial view of labor-management relations when cooperation incurs costs to the union or threatens their control of union members. Analysis of union-management collaboration at the Rath Packing Company between 1978 and 1985 shows that during the life of that program, the union leaders withdrew from and returned to collaboration three times, in response to changes in the cost to the union of continued participation.
The Determinants of Strike Incidence and Severity: A Micro-Level Study
Authors: Gramm Cynthia L.
Published: June 2015

This paper investigates the determinants of “strike incidence and severity during labor contract negotiations. The author develops a model that considers the forces influencing both unions' willingness to strike and employers' willingness to take a strike, and estimates it using data describing 1,050 negotiations in U.S. manufacturing during the 1971–80 period. The results indicate that strike incidence is influenced by the gender composition of the labor force, demand fluctuations in the product market, location in a right-to-work state, the number of workers in the bargaining unit, union density in the industry, and the extent to which wages kept pace with inflation over the prior contract period. On the other hand, neither the local unemployment rate when negotiations began nor the inflation rate over the term of the expiring contract influenced strike incidence or severity in this sample.
The Relative Earnings of Vietnam and Korean-Era Veterans
Authors: Schwartz Saul
Published: June 2015

Using Current Population Survey data for 1967 and 1979, this paper compares the earnings of Vietnam veterans to those of Korean veterans (in both cases, relative to nonveterans) at similar points in their work lives—twelve to sixteen years after their discharge. In both 1967 and 1979, the unadjusted average annual earnings of veterans and nonveterans were similar. But an analysis that controls for such factors as education, age, race, and marital status shows that Vietnam veterans were worse off than their nonveteran contemporaries in that their rate of return per year of education was much lower. By contrast, Korean veterans were economically indistinguishable from nonveterans.
The Scope of Mandatory Bargaining: A Critique and a Proposal
Authors: Sockell Donna
Published: June 2015

This paper argues that the mandatory-permissive distinction in the scope of the duty to bargain collectively should be abandoned in favor of a policy of classifying all lawful subjects as mandatory. The author shows that in recent applications of the distinction by the NLRB and the courts, many subjects of interest to labor have been declared within the exclusive control of management. She argues that the rationales used by the Board and the courts in these decisions are not compelling, and the mandatory-permissive distinction is even less convincing when its current application is compared to the criteria of an ideal scope of bargaining.
Tactical Use of the Union's Duty of Fair Representation: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Knight Thomas R.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents the first empirical analysis to date of complainant behavior under the duty of fair representation. As a partial explanation for the growth in fair representation cases, the author hypothesizes that some workers file representation complaints for tactical purposes—that is, to acquire bargaining power in the grievance process or inflict political damage on incumbent union officers. The distribution of complaints and complaint outcomes across individuals and locals of one international union in British Columbia during 1975–83 supports the hypothesis. The author concludes that these results raise serious questions about the impact of the fair representation doctrine on the effectiveness of unions as bargaining agents and support the call of some scholars for reforms of that doctrine.
How Unions Affect Productivity in Manufacturing Plants
Authors: Bemmels Brian
Published: June 2015

This study investigates several hypotheses as to how unions may affect productivity. Analysis of data from 46 manufacturing plants for 1982 indicates a negative union impact on productivity. The author finds evidence suggesting that unions reduce the effectiveness of some managerial practices undertaken to increase productivity, and that a poor labor-management relations climate also reduces productivity. These two factors account for almost 50 percent of the negative union impact.
The Impact of Ceta Programs on Components of Participants' Earnings
Authors: Dickinson Katherine P. , Johnson Terry R. , West Richard W.
Published: June 2015

This paper provides the first estimates of the net impact of CETA participation on the components of CETA participants' post-program earnings. Employing a sample of 1975 CETA enrollees and comparison groups drawn from the March 1978 CPS using a nearest-neighbor matching technique, the authors estimate statistically significant negative effects on men's earnings and statistically significant positive effects on women's earnings. These results stem partly from the impact of CETA participation on the likelihood of being employed after leaving the program (negative for men, positive for women), but also from a negative impact on hours worked during the year and hourly wage rate for men and a large positive impact on hours worked per week and weeks worked per year for women.
From Human Relations to Organizational Behavior: Reflections on the Changing Scene
Authors: Whyte William Foote
Published: June 2015

This article is an interpretation of the last fifty years of behavioral science research in industry. The author, who has been active in the field since the early 1940s, describes the development since the late 1960s of two distinct streams of organizational behavior research: a main stream, characterized by a sharp separation between research and practice and rigorous specification and measurement of variables, and an alternate stream, with more applied research and sometimes active involvement in organizational change. Labor and management practitioners today are far more interested in behavioral research—at least that of the alternate stream—than they were in the 1940s and 1950s. From an analysis of the literature on the relationship between worker participation and productivity, the author concludes that the alternate stream offers more promise for advances in both science and practice.
Job Search by Employed and Unemployed Youth
Authors: Holzer Harry J.
Published: June 2015

Analysis of data from the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey yields evidence that young unemployed job seekers chose higher levels of search effort (as measured by number of methods used and time spent per method) and lower reservation wages (relative to offered wages) than did comparable employed job seekers in 1981. These differences in search choices at least partly explain differences in search outcomes between the two groups: unemployed searchers apparently were more likely than employed searchers to gain new employment, and the wages they obtained were slightly lower. The author argues that the greater search effort by unemployed job seekers is due to the higher costs of search they bear because of foregone earnings.
Predicting Reasonable Notice in Canadian Wrongful Dismissal Cases
Authors: McShane Steven L. , McPhillips David C.
Published: June 2015

In Canada, an employee dismissed without just cause—defined to include layoffs for lack of work as well as dismissals without sufficient grounds—can sue the employer for a severance payment in lieu of “reasonable notice.” Because the court determines reasonable notice according to the circumstances in each case, employers cannot easily calculate the correct amount of severance to give employees. The authors of this study identify the factors that significantly affected the length of notice awarded in more than 100 British Columbia cases in 1980–86 and develop a regression-based algorithm to estimate reasonable notice. They find that seven predictors account for 69 percent of the variance in reasonable notice awards. A test of the model with Canada-wide data shows it to be highly generalizable to other wrongful dismissal cases in Canada.
Youth Employment and Training Programs
Authors: Hollister Robinson G.
Published: June 2015

The other men were easy to talk to, but they didn't know anything. If one stopped to think about it, it was depressing how little most men learned in their lifetimes. Pea Eye was a prime example. Though loyal and able and brave, Pea had never displayed the slightest ability to learn from his experience, though his experience was considerable. Time and again he would walk up on the wrong side of a horse that was known to kick, and then look surprised when he got kicked.
Equal Employment Opportunity in Japan: A View from the West
Authors: Edwards Linda N.
Published: June 2015

The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Law of 1985, effective in April 1986, prohibits gender discrimination with respect to recruitment, hiring, promotion, training, and job assignment. The author describes the law and assesses its probable impact on the economic opportunities of Japanese women. She argues that two aspects of Japan's socioeconomic environment—the lifetime employment system used by large Japanese private firms, and the labor supply pattern of Japanese women—make it unlikely that the law will have a large impact on the economic status of women in Japan.
Satisfaction with Union Representation
Authors: Fiorito Jack , Gallagher Daniel G. , Fukami Cynthia V.
Published: June 2015

This study develops and empirically tests a model of satisfaction with union representation using national data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. Overall union satisfaction is specified as a function of union members' expectations concerning union efforts and the perceived outcomes of union performance on (1) bread and butter issues (such as wages and benefits), (2) quality of work issues (such as job interest and workers' voice in the employing organization), and (3) member-union relations (such as the quality of communication between union leaders and members). The results indicate that internal member-union relations and bread and butter issues are much more important than QWL issues in determining members' satisfaction with their union. The determinants of expectations and perceived outcomes are also briefly considered.
Organizing Clerical Workers: Determinants of Success
Authors: Hurd Richard W. , McElwain Adrienne
Published: June 2015

This paper investigates factors influencing the outcome of union organizing efforts among clerical workers in the private sector. Drawing on interviews with union officials involved in clerical organizing campaigns, the authors analyze NLRB data on elections held in 1979. They find that the percentage of clerical workers voting yes in representation elections was related positively to the strength of the union presence in the state and employment growth in the industry, and negatively to the level of strike activity in the state and management resistance to unionization. The delay between the filing of an election petition and the holding of the election had no significant effect on the vote.
International Trade and the Labor Market Experience of Displaced Workers
Authors: Kruse Douglas L.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the Displaced Workers Survey and the National Bureau of Economic Research Trade and Immigration Dataset, the author of this study finds that among manufacturing workers displaced in 1979–83, the average duration of joblessness varied directly with the rise in their industry's import share since 1972–74. This relationship appears to be due in large part to the fact that the work force in industries with rising import shares tends to have demographic characteristics associated with labor market adjustment difficulties, such as higher proportions of women and blue-collar workers than are found in other industries.
The Effect of Pay and Retention Bonuses on Quit Rates in the U.S. Army
Authors: Lakhani Hyder
Published: June 2015

This paper investigates the effects of pay and reenlistment bonuses on quit rates in the U.S. Army. A three stage least squares analysis of 1981 data shows that quit rates were negatively related to pay level and, even more so, to the size of the bonus offered. The effects on the quit rate were significantly greater, however, for soldiers in combat occupations than for those in noncombat occupations. The author speculates that the skills learned by combat soldiers are less marketable in the civilian labor market than the more general skills acquired by noncombat soldiers; he thus urges higher bonuses in noncombat occupations.
The Earnings of Women and Ethnic Minorities, 1959–1979
Authors: Carlson Leonard A. , Swartz Caroline
Published: June 2015

Using 1980 Census data, the authors present estimates of annual earnings equations for twelve ethnic and racial groups, by gender, for 1979, and compare their results with an earlier study's estimates for 1959 and 1969. All minority men and women except Asian Indian and Japanese men earned less than white men in the years for which data were available. The earnings gap for most groups of men and women, however, declined over those years, and the portion of that gap that might be assignable to discrimination (the unexplained “residual”) also declined. A notable exception was white women, whose mean earnings relative to white men's changed little between 1969 and 1979, even when corrected for differences in productive characteristics.
The Determinants of Queues for Federal Jobs
Authors: Krueger Alan B.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the determinants of the number and quality of outside applicants for federal job openings, using a variety of time-series, cross-sectional, and panel data sets. The main finding is that the application rate for government jobs increases as the ratio of federal to private sector earnings increases, but the rate does not appear to be related to the relative level of fringe benefits. Furthermore, an increase in the federal-private sector earnings differential is associated with an increase in the average quality of applicants for federal jobs. The author discusses the implications of these findings for wage determination and recruitment in the federal government.
Returns to Seniority in Union and Nonunion Jobs: A New Look at the Evidence
Authors: Abraham Katharine G. , Farber Henry S.
Published: June 2015

In cross-sectional data, the positive association between seniority and earnings is typically much stronger for nonunion workers than for union workers, a finding that seems inconsistent with the generalization that seniority is more important in the union sector than in the nonunion sector. The authors of this paper show that standard estimates of the return to seniority are likely to be biased upward due to unmeasured worker heterogeneity, job heterogeneity, or both, and they argue that this bias is likely to be larger in the nonunion sector than in the union sector. When they correct for this problem in analyzing data on male blue-collar workers for the years 1968–80, they find a larger return to seniority in the union sector than in the nonunion sector.
Gender Effects in Discharge Arbitration
Authors: Bemmels Brian
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the effect of the gender of grievants and the gender of arbitrators on the decisions in 1,812 discharge cases in the United States from 1976 through 1986. The results indicate that, other things equal, in cases decided by male arbitrators women were 86 percent more likely to have their grievances sustained than were men. Women were also 32 percent more likely than men to receive a full reinstatement rather than a partial reinstatement from male arbitrators. There is little evidence of differential treatment of male and female grievants by female arbitrators, and no evidence that the preferential treatment of women by male arbitrators has declined over time.
Managerial Promotion: The Effects of Socialization, Specialization, and Gender
Authors: Cannings Kathy
Published: June 2015

Analyzing responses to a questionnaire sent in 1983 to managers in a large Canadian corporation, the author finds that women, who comprised 256 of the 692 managers in the sample and whose average earnings were 87 percent of the men's, were only 80 percent as likely as their male colleagues to be promoted in any given year of their careers with the firm. Although career-relevant factors such as childhood socialization, formal education, and firm-specific productivity had a significant impact on the probability of promotion, the influence of gender on a manager's chances of promotion is found to be sizeable even when those variables are held constant.
The Transferability of Military-Provided Occupational Training in the Post-Draft Era
Authors: Mangum Stephen L. , Ball David E.
Published: June 2015

Several studies have examined how military-provided training affects post-service employment experience, but this study is the first to investigate that relationship for young men and women who enlisted in the “all-volunteer” era that began in 1974. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey—Youth Cohort, the authors find that the transfer of skills to civilian employment was as high for military training as for civilian training (45–50 percent), once employer-provided training is excluded from consideration. Furthermore, within two years of their return to civilian life, those who received military training had higher earnings than those who received training in the civilian sector—a finding that contrasts with the results of studies of Vietnam veterans, but agrees with the results found for veterans of World War II and the Korean Conflict.
Separating the Reporting Effects from the Injury Rate Effects of Workers' Compensation Insurance: A Hedonic Simulation
Authors: Kniesner Thomas J. , Leeth John D.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents a numerical simulation, based on data from the early 1970s, to investigate the economic links between labor market outcomes and the workers' compensation insurance system. The results suggest that, in most cases, any of three changes in the system—more generous benefits, more accurate categorization of insurance claims, or more complete experience rating of premiums—will slightly reduce the actual number of work-related injuries but will dramatically increase the number of insurance claims filed. The authors conclude that changes in self-reported injuries can produce significant misimpressions of the safety incentives created by the workers' compensation insurance system.
The Unemployment Rates of Men and Women: A Transition Probability Analysis
Authors: DeBoer Larry , Seeborg Michael C.
Published: June 2015

Women's unemployment rates were considerably higher than men's for many years, but during the 1980s this difference has virtually disappeared. This study is the first to examine that change through an analysis of trends in the probabilities of labor force transitions — movements between employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation in the labor force. Using BLS data, the authors find that about half of the narrowing of the unemployment rate differential during the 1968–85 period was due to the increasing labor force attachment of women and the decreasing attachment of men. The other half reflects changes in men's and women's tendencies to move between employment and unemployment, which the authors attribute primarily to the secular decline of male-dominated industries.
The Gender Gap in Earnings during World War II: New Evidence
Authors: Aldrich Mark
Published: June 2015

Contrary to the widely held belief that women's earnings rose relative to men's during World War II because of women's unprecedented movement into heavy manufacturing industries, the author of this study finds that the national all-industry earnings of women during the war fell compared to those of men. In Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York, the relative weekly and annual earnings of female manufacturing workers rose, but at a rate below that of the long-term trend. Overall, the decline in women's weekly and annual earnings compared to men's probably resulted from the relative increase in men's hours worked—a result of state protective legislation that limited women's hours of work.
Government Regulation of Labor-Management Corruption: The Casino Industry Experience in New Jersey
Authors: Lee Barbara A. , Chelius James
Published: June 2015

This study evaluates the impact of New Jersey's 1977 law controlling the casino industry and its unions. Based on interviews with casino managers, union representatives, state regulatory agency officials, and attorneys, the authors conclude that the Casino Control Commission has kept casino ownership and management free from organized crime, but only by means of stringent, unpopular regulations, such as licensing requirements that can delay the hiring of casino dealers for months. The Commission has been less successful in policing unions, partly, the authors argue, because of federal laws protecting unions. For example, union officials who are removed from office because of alleged associations with crime organizations can be (and have been) rehired by the union as consultants.
The Persistence of Organized Crime in New York City Construction: An Economic Perspective
Authors: Ichniowski Casey , Preston Anne
Published: June 2015

This study explores the strengths and weaknesses of economic reasoning in explaining, and suggesting remedies for, the stubborn presence of racketeering in New York City construction. In this industry, the authors argue, transactions cannot be conducted efficiently either between a large number of firms or within a few large firms. Consequently, criminals can “sell,” and profit from, their ability to impose organization on the industry. Criminal activity can persist because of barriers to entry in certain markets within the industry and because of industry characteristics such as constant changes of, and restricted access to, work sites. The role of unions as a monopolizing institution may also facilitate criminal control. These and other economic hypotheses are relevant to policy making, the authors maintain, even though they cannot be adequately tested with available data.
Today's Associations, Tomorrow's Unions
Authors: Ichniowski Casey , Zax Jeffrey S.
Published: June 2015

This paper investigates the effects of association-style unionism on union membership. In a 1984 Harris poll examining workers' attitudes toward various forms of employee organization, nearly half of all nonunion workers indicated they would join an association, but most of these potential association members said they would not vote for a union to serve as a bargaining agent. Analysis of census data on local government departments strongly suggests, however, that the substitution away from traditional bargaining representation attributable to associations would be followed by an increase in the membership of traditional unions. Specifically, the authors find that in all local government services, the presence of an association in 1977 was a strong predictor of the formation of a bargaining unit by 1982—holding constant other important determinants of public employee unionism, including the legal environment.
Structural and Market Predictors of Corporate Labor Relations Strategies
Authors: Cooke William N. , Meyer David G.
Published: June 2015

The authors develop a model predicting which of three broad labor-relations strategies—union avoidance, union-management collaboration, or a mixed strategy combining elements of union avoidance and collaboration—a company will adopt. A multinomial logit estimation using data on 58 large unionized manufacturing corporations confirms that market pressures and structural characteristics of the company are important predictors of strategy choice. Specifically, the worse the market conditions (as gauged by import penetration and industry employment), the more likely executives will choose union avoidance over collaboration and mixed strategies. Collaboration is more likely to be chosen the greater the percent of plants unionized and the higher the ratio of cost of goods to sales. The choice of the mixed strategy is more likely the higher the labor intensity, capital investment, and number of plants.
Executive Pay and Firm Performance
Authors: Leonard Jonathan S.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the effects of executive compensation policy and organizational structure on the performance of 439 large U.S. corporations between 1981 and 1985. Companies with long-term incentive plans enjoyed significantly greater increases in ROE (return on equity) than did companies without such plans, and by 1985 long-term incentive plans had been nearly universally adopted by large corporations. Corporate success was not significantly related to the level of, or degree of equity in, executive pay, or to the steepness of pay differentials across executive ranks; it was, however, positively related to the extent of hierarchical structure, which appears to have been the primary mechanism for sorting individuals by human capital endowments and performance.
Does Performance-Based Managerial Compensation Affect Corporate Performance?
Authors: Abowd John M.
Published: June 2015

The author, using 1981–86 data on more than 16,000 managers at 250 large corporations, investigates whether the sensitivity of managerial compensation to corporate performance in one year is positively related to corporate performance in the next year. Accounting-based measures of performance yield only weak evidence of such an association, but economic and market measures yield stronger evidence. Payment of an incremental 10% bonus for good economic performance is associated with a 30 to 90 basis point increase in the expected after-tax gross economic return in the following fiscal year; and payment of an incremental raise of 10% following a good stock market performance is associated with a 400 to 1200 basis point increase in expected total shareholder return.
The Incentive Effects of Tournaments Revisited: Evidence from the European PGA Tour
Authors: Ehrenberg Ronald G. , Bognanno Michael L.
Published: June 2015

This analysis of data from the 1987 European Men's Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour strongly supports the hypothesis that the level and structure of prizes in PGA tournaments influence players' performance. Specifically, players' performance appears to vary positively with both the total money prizes awarded in a tournament and the marginal return to effort in the final round of play (a value that varies among players largely depending on how the prize money is allocated among finishers of different ranks). The authors suggest that these results, together with the similar results of their earlier study of the 1984 U.S. Men's PGA Tour, may have implications for the design of compensation systems for certain groups of workers, such as corporate executives, college professors, and salespeople.
Firms' Choice of Method of Pay
Authors: Brown Charles
Published: June 2015

Using data from the BLS Industry Wage Survey, the author tests the theory that firms choose their methods of pay by balancing the gains from more precise links between performance and pay against monitoring costs. The results confirm most of the predictions from the general theory. For example, large firms make significantly greater use of standard-rate pay than do small firms, and incentive pay (such as piece rates) is less likely in jobs with a variety of duties than in jobs with a narrow set of routines.
Employer Behavior in the Face of Union Organizing Drives
Authors: Freeman Richard B. , Kleiner Morris M.
Published: June 2015

Using data from a 1986 survey of employers and a 1982–83 survey of union organizers, the authors investigate the determinants and consequences of employer opposition to union organizing drives. They find that strong management opposition, as evidenced by, for example, the filing of formal charges of unfair labor practices against management, was most likely when the firm had relatively low wages, poor working conditions, and supervisory problems; when the likelihood of union victory was uncertain; and when the potential union compensation differential—and thus the potential effect on firm profits—was high. Opposition by supervisors was particularly effective in defeating union drives. The authors conclude that firms' responses to organizing drives were consistent with the motive of profit maximization, and that management opposition has been an important determinant of the decline of unionization.
Union Participation in Japan: Do Western Theories Apply?
Authors: Kuruvilla Sarosh , Gallagher Daniel G. , Fiorito Jack , Wakabayashi Mitsuru
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the validity in Japan of union participation models developed in North America. The results of ordinary least squares analysis suggest that members' participation in unions is positively related to many of the same factors in Japan as in North America: for example, length of union membership, pay, dissatisfaction regarding pay and working conditions, degree of interaction with others in the work group, and perceptions of the union's effectiveness and its democratic character. Some findings at odds with those of Western studies, however, are that older workers and better-educated workers are less (rather than more) likely than others to actively participate, and job status is unrelated (rather than positively related) to participation.
Unionism and Productivity in West Virginia Coal Mining
Authors: Boal William M.
Published: June 2015

This study presents econometric estimates of the effects of unionism on productivity in 83 West Virginia coal mines in the early 1920s. The size, detail, and panel structure of the data set permit investigation of many possible links between unionism and productivity, in contrast to the summary measures reported by most studies. The results show that the union effect was not uniform across mines and cannot be represented by a simple shift parameter. Rather, unionism significantly reduced productivity at small mines but not at large mines. Drawing on historical evidence, the author ascribes this differential effect to systematic differences between small and large operations in the quality of management and union leadership.
Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession: A Study of Promotion
Authors: Spurr Stephen J.
Published: June 2015

Although the proportion of lawyers who are women has grown rapidly in recent years, this study presents evidence of discrimination against women in promotion to partnership in major U.S. law firms in 1969–73 and 1980. Using regression analysis and maximum likelihood estimates of a probabilistic model of production of legal services, the author finds that women were about one-half as likely as men to achieve partnership in those years, even though they did not significantly differ from men in academic distinction (selection for the law review or the Order of the Coif), the rank of their law schools, or productivity.
Cyclical Fluctuations in Strike Activity
Authors: McConnell Sheena
Published: June 2015

Using a set of data on contracts and strikes for the period 1970–81, the author distinguishes among the roles of aggregate business conditions, labor market conditions, and product market conditions in the determination of strike incidence and duration. Strike incidence is found to be highest in industries that are depressed relative to the rest of the economy but in regions with low unemployment. This finding is consistent with the theory that the cost of a strike to a firm increases with the demand for its product and the cost of a strike to the union increases with unemployment. Another finding, however, is that strikes are longest in industries that are booming relative to the rest of the economy.
From “Porkchoppers” to “Lambchoppers”: The Passage of Florida's Public Employee Relations Act
Authors: Miller Berkeley , Canak William
Published: June 2015

This study suggests an historical explanation for Florida's enactment of a statewide public sector collective bargaining law in 1974. Florida has characteristics that, in other states, have tended to militate against the passage of such a law: a weak statewide labor movement, low interparty competition, active business opposition, and the long-term incumbency of conservative southern Democrats. Using interviews and historical documents, the authors identify events and conditions that, they argue, account for the 1974 legislation. Notably, federal court-ordered reapportionment led to the election of urban progressives; a revision of the state's constitution gave public employees collective bargaining rights; and the Florida Supreme Court, responding to a suit filed by a local teachers' union, took actions that forced the legislature to enact a collective bargaining law.
Trends in the Growth and Distribution of Skills in the U.S. Workplace, 1960–1985
Authors: Howell David R. , Wolff Edward N.
Published: June 2015

Using new measures of job skills and standard measures of education and earnings, the authors examine the effects of changing occupational and industry employment patterns on the skill composition of work between 1960 and 1985. The results show a strong upgrading of cognitive and interactive skills—combined, however, with a substantial slowdown in the rates of growth of those skills—and a declining demand for motor skills. The earnings mix of jobs did not show the same high correlation with employment growth as skill and education levels, because high-wage, low-skill jobs declined in the goods industries while low-wage jobs requiring at least moderate skill levels grew rapidly in the services.
Worker Representation on Boards of Directors: A Study of Competing Roles
Authors: Hammer Tove H. , Currall Steven C. , Stern Robert N.
Published: June 2015

The study examines worker representation on boards of directors as a form of employee participation in organizational decision-making in 14 U.S. firms in the early 1980s. The authors develop a model of worker director role definitions and role performance to explain how opposition by managers and conventional board directors to labor advocacy on the board can make worker directorships ineffective labor voice mechanisms when other structures of participation are absent in a firm. The analysis shows that corporate managers and workers had widely divergent definitions of the worker director role: management emphasized downward communication from the board to employees, whereas worker directors and their constituents stressed the protection of workers' interests as the main function of worker directors. Both management and labor influenced worker role definitions and role behavior through selection and socialization processes.
The Roles of Supervisors, Employees, and Stewards in Grievance Initiation
Authors: Bemmels Brian , Reshef Yonatan , Stratton-Devine Kay
Published: June 2015

The authors develop a model of grievance initiation that incorporates the grievance-related behaviors of supervisors, employees, and shop stewards, such as the frequency of employee complaints to stewards and the frequency of steward attempts to resolve potential grievances informally. The model is estimated with 1989 survey data on 231 work groups. The grievance-related behavior patterns of the actors are found to be better predictors of grievance rates than the demographic characteristics, attitudes, personality, or other characteristics of employees, stewards, and the workplace, which have been the focus of previous research on grievance initiation.
Grievance Procedure Strength and Teacher Quits
Authors: Rees Daniel I.
Published: June 2015

Freeman's exit-voice model of unionism suggests that grievance procedure strength should be negatively related to the probability that an employee quits his or her job. In this study, which uses data on New York State public school teachers and districts from the mid-1970s, it is found that teachers with the two strongest types of grievance procedures in their contracts had a lower probability of quitting than those working under weaker grievance procedures. The author views this result as evidence that unionization can reduce quits through a “voice” effect.
Worker Learning and Compensating Differentials
Authors: Viscusi W. Kip , Moore Michael J.
Published: June 2015

The authors hypothesize that in industries with relatively high levels of job-related injury risk, workers with longer job tenure will more clearly appreciate the degree of job risk than will newly hired workers, and will thus be more willing to accept lower wages in return for higher workers' compensation benefits. This hypothesis is confirmed by an analysis of quit behavior using 1981–83 data from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics and 1981–85 data from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
The Effect of Mandatory Retirement on Earnings Profiles in Japan
Authors: Clark Robert L. , Ogawa Naohiro
Published: June 2015

Using data from the Japanese Basic Survey on Wage Structure for 1981 and 1986, the authors estimate the effect of the age of mandatory retirement on the rate of growth of earnings with job tenure in Japan. The results indicate that an increase in the age of mandatory retirement reduces the rate of growth of earnings. This finding suggests that the existence of long-term employment contracts is a more likely explanation of the steep earnings-experience profiles of Japanese workers than is the specific human capital model.
The Effects of Race on Professional Football Players' Compensation
Authors: Kahn Lawrence M.
Published: June 2015

Using data on 1,363 NFL players from the 1989 season, the author examines the issue of racial discrimination in professional football. He finds that the difference between white and black players' earnings, with controls for performance and other variables, is small (at most, 4%, favoring whites) and, in most equations, not significantly different from zero. Another finding, however, is that the salaries of white and nonwhite players vary positively with the percentages of whites and nonwhites, respectively, in the metropolitan area in which the team is based —suggesting that some football fans prefer to watch players of their own race, and team owners are willing to pay more to players who, because of their race, will attract a larger audience and bring in greater revenue.
The Effects of Improshare on Productivity
Authors: Kaufman Roger T.
Published: June 2015

Analyzing 112 responses to a 1988 questionnaire sent to all known users of IMPROSHARE, the author estimates the effects on productivity of this gain-sharing plan, which is being used by a growing number of companies. The data indicate that IMPROSHARE has led to significant increases in productivity. The median productivity increase was about 8% in the first year, and the cumulative productivity gains had risen to 17.5% by the third year, after which they began to level off. The mean productivity increases were even greater than the median increases and followed a similar pattern. The author finds that a sizable portion of the gains reflects reductions in defect and downtime rates, and that firm size was inversely related to productivity gains.