bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Market Structure on Wages, Fringe Benefits, and Turnover
Authors: Long James E. , Link Albert N.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the relationship between labor compensation and the structure of the product market, which is measured by the industry concentration ratio and by dummy variables for the existence and type of government regulation. Unlike previous studies that have estimated the impact of concentration and regulation on wages or earnings, this study extends the analysis to include the effect of market structure on employer-provided pensions and insurance and on voluntary labor turnover. The hypothesis that product market power raises labor compensation is supported by empirical results indicating that concentration increases wages and fringes but lowers voluntary labor turnover. Regulations that set minimum prices and restrict entry raise labor compensation, since wage premiums due to regulation are not offset by lower pensions and insurance or higher turnover. Other forms of regulation, such as profit regulation in public utilities, are found to reduce labor compensation, as evidenced by higher turnover or lower wages and fringes, or both.
The Impact of Alternative Impasse Procedures on Bargaining: A Laboratory Experiment
Authors: Magenau John M.
Published: June 2015

This laboratory experiment compares the effects of two variations of conventional arbitration, two variations of final-offer arbitration, and a no-intervention or strike condition across two sets of negotiations. The results of the experiment suggest that the strike condition is more effective than arbitration in producing voluntary agreements, and that final-offer arbitration is more effective than conventional arbitration in encouraging the parties to narrow their differences. The latter result occurred, though, only after an impasse had been declared and when conventional arbitration involved the clear expectation that the arbitrator would split the difference in the parties' positions. The effectiveness of final-offer arbitration was also reduced when the parties expected the arbitrator to choose between last offers made before instead of after the close of negotiation.
The Swiss Experience with Foreign Workers: Lessons for the United States
Authors: Clark M. Gardner
Published: June 2015

This article describes the development of the Swiss system of immigration control, which is designed to ensure that foreign workers neither take jobs away from domestic workers nor lower Swiss wages and working standards. Swiss controls have been particularly effective in preventing the immigration of illegal foreign workers by making the employer the key instrument in the control process. During the 1945–62 period, the Swiss attempted to exploit the short-run economic advantages of foreign workers by admitting large numbers of such workers, a policy that produced many social, cultural, and political problems. By imposing tighter controls during the next twenty years, however, the Swiss were able to maximize the advantages of immigration, and minimize its disadvantages. The author argues that the Swiss experience offers valuable lessons to those currently debating immigration policy in the United States.
Workers' Compensation, Job Hazards, and Wages
Authors: Dorsey Stuart , Walzer Norman
Published: June 2015

Competitive theory implies that compensating wage differentials will be paid to workers in hazardous employment, but only to the extent that employees are liable for risk. This prediction suggests that previous estimates of wage-risk premiums may be biased as a result of the failure to control for variations in workers' compensation benefits across states. The authors of this paper test an empirical model of compensating wage differentials that includes a measure of employer liability. For nonunion workers, they find that significant wage premiums are paid for an increased probability or severity of nonfatal injury; a slight downward bias in these estimates results from omitting the liability variable; and increases in employers' costs of workers' compensation are offset dollar-for-dollar by reduced wages. For union workers, however, the evidence on compensating differentials is mixed, and there is no suggestion of a trade-off between wages and the costs of workers' compensation.
Grievance Mediation in the Coal Industry: A Field Experiment
Authors: Brett Jeanne M. , Goldberg Stephen B.
Published: June 2015

This article describes an experiment in the mediation of grievances that recently took place during two six-month periods in four districts of the United Mine Workers of America. Eighty-nine percent of the 153 grievances taken to mediation during the experiment were resolved before arbitration. This success rate did not appear to be influenced by whether one or both parties had to consent to take a grievance to mediation, or by the identity of the mediator or the nature of the issue, although no discharge grievances were mediated in the experiment. Instead, the key to settlement appeared to be the parties' willingness to negotiate. Cost savings attributable to mediating instead of arbitrating the 153 cases were nearly $100,000, and the average grievance was resolved three months sooner in mediation than it would have been had it gone to arbitration. Most of the participants in the experiment had favorable attitudes toward the process, regardless of the outcome of their particular case.
Race, Ranking, Promotions, and Pay at a Federal Facility: A Logit Analysis
Authors: Killingsworth Mark R. , Reimers Cordelia W.
Published: June 2015

This study analyzes rank assignments and promotions among a group of federal civilian employees at a U.S. Army base, with special attention to racial differences, by estimating a multinomial logit model and using pooled data from four different years. The authors find that position and compensation, although closely related, are by no means identical, nor are promotions and changes in pay. For example, the racial differential in compensation at this base is accompanied by a racial differential in ranking under which blacks are more likely than comparable whites to be in blue-collar occupations and less likely to be in white-collar occupations; whereas the gender differential in compensation is accompanied by a gender differential in ranking under which women are more likely than comparable men to be in low-level white-collar occupations and less likely to be in other occupations. Similarly, a narrowing of the racial differential in earnings over time coexisted with a racial differential in promotions that worked to the disadvantage of nonwhites.
The Rise and Demise of Patco
Authors: Northrup Herbert R.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike of 1981 and assesses its impact on labor relations in the federal sector. The author finds the root causes of the stoppage in the history of PATCO's relations with the Federal Aviation Administration, the equivocal manner in which the federal government had dealt with previous PATCO strikes, and the ineptness of PATCO's leaders. He argues that PATCO's basic goal was to gain the right to bargain under private sector rules, and that the union would have made considerable progress toward that goal if it had accepted the government's last offer in 1981. The author also describes the international aspects of the strike, including the strong steps taken by the Reagan administration to maintain transoceanic service.
Plant Closings and Their Regulation in Maine, 1971–1982
Authors: Folbre Nancy R. , Leighton Julia L. , Roderick Melissa R.
Published: June 2015

This paper describes the plant closing regulations adopted in Maine during the 1971 – 81 period and documents a pattern of relatively poor compliance with the advance notice and severance pay requirements of the law. Data on the number of workers laid off in major plant closings, on prenotification of workers, and on state and local unemployment rates provide the basis for an econometric estimate of the effects of closings with and without early notification on local unemployment rates and the size of the local labor force. The results suggest that advance notification significantly lowers the unemployment resulting from a closing.
The Attitudinal Effects of Gender Mix in Union Committees
Authors: Izraeli Dafna N.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the impact of the gender mix of union committees in Israel on the attitudes and perceptions of committee members. The author finds that both male and female members of committees with a male majority were more likely than members of committees with a female majority to believe that men have greater leadership skills than women and that women are elected primarily to represent women rather than all workers. Also, in neither type of committee were men perceived to represent only men or did women rate their influence equal to that of men.
Trade Unions, Absenteeism, and Exit-Voice
Authors: Allen Steven G.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the effect of union membership on absenteeism. On the one hand, union members might be absent more frequently than nonmembers because they face smaller penalties for absenteeism and because managers in union plants have less flexibility to tailor work schedules to individual preferences. On the other hand, union members might be absent less frequently because of the more attractive regular work schedules and stronger employee “voice” in union plants. The evidence from three data sets, two cross-sectional and one longitudinal, indicates that, other things equal, union members are at least 29 percent more likely to be absent than workers who do not belong to unions. These results, together with the finding of others that job dissatisfaction is greater among union members, suggest that union voice may not be effective in influencing many aspects of the employment relationship.
The Legality of Employee-Participation Programs in Unionized Firms
Authors: Sockell Donna
Published: June 2015

This paper focuses on the legal status of employee-participation programs, such as quality circles, that coexist with but are not controlled by unions — a situation occurring in U.S. industry with considerable frequency despite the objections of some union leaders. Although no cases have yet been heard on this precise question, the author relies upon an analysis of leading cases interpreting the scope of the exclusivity doctrine and the definition of labor organization, as well as the legislative histories of the National Labor Relations Act and the Labor Management Relations Act, to interpret the legal status of these programs. She concludes that if a union filed a 8(a)(5) charge against a unionized firm that is dealing with its employees in a nonunion forum, this charge would probably be upheld; moreover, as a remedy, the participation structure would probably be dissolved. She then suggests changes in public policy to protect participation programs that do not threaten the bargaining agent.
Cohort Size and the Earnings Growth of Young Workers
Authors: Berger Mark C.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the impact of cohort size on human capital investment decisions and early career earnings growth. In general, larger cohorts experience slower earnings growth and flatter earnings profiles than smaller cohorts, a finding that contradicts results reported by Welch. This implies that the negative effect of cohort size on earnings levels found in past research not only persists with age but actually increases. Also, increases in cohort size appear to depress the earnings growth of college graduates more than that of any other schooling group, again contrary to Welch's findings but consistent with evidence presented by Freeman.
Employee Characteristics and Representation Election Outcomes
Authors: Martin James E.
Published: June 2015

This article proposes and tests a model to predict the outcome of representation elections contested by trade union and employee association types of labor organizations in the public sector. The author hypothesizes that the winners of such elections can be predicted from variables measuring individual characteristics of the potential employee voters, such as gender, race, age, seniority, and job level. Application of the model to data on five elections in Michigan predicts four correctly. Qualitative data offers further support for the model, suggesting that employee characteristics and also the length and nature of the election campaigns helped determine the outcome of the elections.
Length of Service and Promotions in Union and Nonunion Work Groups
Authors: Abraham Katharine G. , Medoff James L.
Published: June 2015

This study provides evidence on the relative importance of seniority and ability in the promotion process in union and nonunion settings. The analysis is based on survey data collected from managers in a random sample of about 400 firms, supplemented by an examination of personnel records concerning the pattern of promotions in two manufacturing firms. The results show that, as expected, the weight assigned seniority is significantly greater in union than in nonunion settings, but the difference is smaller than many would have predicted.
Norms of Distributive Justice in Interest Arbitration
Authors: Bazerman Max H.
Published: June 2015

This study uses a simulation methodology to analyze the use of three alternative norms of distributive justice by arbitrators in conventional interest arbitration. Sixty-nine experienced arbitrators each provided decisions in 25 hypothetical wage cases in which seven factors, such as the inflation rate and the ability to pay, were systematically varied. Individually, most arbitrators were very consistent in the weights they gave to these seven factors in their decisions across cases, but arbitrators differed significantly among themselves in the weight assigned each factor. Also, arbitrators' subjective assessments of their weighting policies often differed from their actual weighting practices. The most common norm followed by these arbitrators was “anchored equity”: maintaining the status quo by adjusting the present wage by the average negotiated increase in the industry.
Occupational Segregation by Race and Gender, 1958–1981
Authors: Albelda Randy P.
Published: June 2015

Studies of occupational segregation by gender reveal little change since 1958. By disaggregating annual data for 1958–81 by race as well as gender, however, the author shows that although white women's occupational distribution has remained stable relative to white men's, nonwhite women's distribution has changed dramatically, particularly relative to white women's. Regression analysis examines structural economic changes, relative educational attainment, and the business cycle as determinants of changes in the occupational distribution over the period 1962–81.
The Impact of Strikes on Shareholder Equity
Authors: Becker Brian E. , Olson Craig A.
Published: June 2015

From an analysis of data for 1962–82, the authors find that strikes substantially affect shareholder equity as measured by the change in stock prices associated with strikes. Over that period the average strike involving 1,000 or more workers resulted in a 4.1 percent drop in shareholder equity, representing a decline of $72–87 million in 1980 dollars. Costs varied widely across industries. The authors also find that capital markets are usually able to anticipate whether an impending contract deadline will result in a strike or settlement. In the prestrike period, however, the stock market consistently underestimates the cost of a strike to shareholders, as evidenced by the fact that nearly two-thirds of the total decline in returns (2.7 percent) occurs after the strike is announced.
Do Retirement Dreams Come True? The Effect of Unanticipated Events on Retirement Plans
Authors: Anderson Kathryn H. , Burkhauser Richard V. , Quinn Joseph F.
Published: June 2015

Analyzing data from the Retirement History Study, the authors find that the retirement plans of male workers aged 58–63 in 1969 were significantly affected by unanticipated events over the next decade. Specifically, unanticipated increases in Social Security wealth induced retirement earlier than originally planned, as did deterioration in personal health, whereas the recession of the 1970s tended to delay retirement. This evidence that policy changes do affect retirement behavior in systematic ways provides support for the decision by Congress to defer until the turn of the century the application of several important provisions of the 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act.
Strikes, Strike Penalties, and Arbitration in Six States
Authors: Olson Craig A.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the frequency of public sector strikes through 1980 in six states that have different public policies toward such strikes. From the results of cross-sectional and time series analyses, the author concludes that well-enforced penalties against participants in illegal strikes (in New York) and the threat of firings in response to strikes (Wisconsin) appear to have reduced strike frequency, whereas poorly enforced prohibitions against public sector strikes (Ohio) had no effect, and the legalization of public sector strikes (Pennsylvania) increased strike frequency. Policies affecting the rescheduling of school days missed because of teacher strikes significantly affected the probability of teacher strikes. The results also suggest, less strongly, that interest arbitration decreased strike frequency.
The Effect of the Cost of Strikes on the Volume of Strike Activity
Authors: Maki Dennis R.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents a method for testing whether the volume of strike activity in a unionized firm or industry is affected by the cost of such activity as measured by output lost, and applies that method to Canadian data at the one-digit SIC level. Output losses are estimated through bivariate transfer function analysis of time series data, and rank correlations between these estimates and a measure of strike activity are then calculated across industries. The results support the hypothesis that strike activity varies inversely with the cost of strikes, but this evidence is not strong, possibly due to the small sample size used in the cross-section analysis.
Legislative Support for Multi-Employer Bargaining: The Canadian Experience
Authors: Rose Joseph B.
Published: June 2015

This study appraises the laws adopted in the 1970s by most provinces in Canada for the purpose of promoting stronger employer associations and broader bargaining structures in the construction industry. The author finds that employer associations in construction are now more cohesive and less vulnerable to union whipsaw and leapfrog tactics, and the frequency of construction strikes has declined. On the other hand, other measures of strike activity, such as total days lost, increased following the legislative changes, and construction wages continued to rise as rapidly as in the late 1960s.
Capitalism and Kinship: Do Institutions Matter in the Labor Market?
Authors: Doeringer Peter B. , Moss Philip I. , Terkla David G.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the determination of employment and pay on “capitalist” and “kinship” vessels in the New England fishing industry. Capitalist vessels resemble standard competitive firms in the way that employment and pay respond to changing market conditions; kinship vessels operate under work guarantees and income sharing rules. These differences in institutional rules lead to different patterns of income, employment, growth, and labor adjustment. The study shows how an understanding of the institutional structure of labor markets can contribute to the design of public policies to facilitate adjustment to change and to promote industrial growth.
The Impact of Attorneys and Arbitrators on Arbitration Awards
Authors: Block Richard N. , Stieber Jack
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes the impact of attorney representation and the identity of the arbitrator on a sample of grievance arbitration awards in cases involving discharge for just cause. The results indicate that, as compared to cases in which neither side is represented by an attorney, each party has more favorable arbitration awards when it has attorney representation and the other party does not. When both sides have attorney representation, however, the awards do not differ from those given when neither side has attorney representation. The results also indicate that the awards of several of the arbitrators studied were consistently more favorable to one of the parties than the other.
The Effect of Advance Notification of Plant Closings on Unemployment
Authors: Addison John T. , Portugal Pedro
Published: June 2015

Using data from the 1984 Displaced Worker Survey, the authors model the determinants of time without work following job displacement for a large sample of workers laid off because of plant shutdowns between 1979 and 1984. The major focus of the paper is on the role of advance notification in mitigating unemployment. The estimating procedure accommodates right censored observations stemming from continuing or open-ended spells of unemployment. Advance notification is found to have significantly reduced the duration of unemployment of those notified workers who did not draw unemployment insurance benefits and, in particular, of those who left the plant prior to termination. Advance notice had much less effect on the time without work of notified workers whose spell length of unemployment was long enough for them to collect unemployment insurance benefits.
The New Industrial Relations: British Electricians' New-Style Agreements
Authors: Rico Leonard
Published: June 2015

This study analyzes the response of the British Electricians' Union to economic adversity, and to new managerial strategies, as embodied in the union's novel agreements in three Japanese-owned British electronics firms. These agreements provide that the union is the sole bargaining representative in each firm; most British plants, by contrast, have multiple-union representation. Most of the new-style agreements also contain a no-strike clause, final-offer arbitration of interest disputes, and measures to increase labor flexibility, reduce the diversity in conditions among plant, office, and managerial employees, and enhance employee participation in major company decisions. The author views these agreements as evidence that fundamental changes in collective bargaining relationships are taking place.
The Productivity Effects of Worker Directors and Financial Participation by Employees in the Firm: The Case of British Retail Cooperatives
Authors: Jones Derek C.
Published: June 2015

In British retail cooperatives, workers have long had the opportunity to participate financially in their enterprises, through such mechanisms as employee ownership, and to serve on boards. Using data from a 1978 sample of 50 cooperatives, the author of this paper presents econometric estimates of the effects on co-op productivity of these channels of participation. He finds that the presence of worker directors modestly increases productivity, whereas, surprisingly, financial participation in the firm by employees reduces productivity. The net impact on productivity of both forms of participation is small but positive.
The Nlrb's Deferral to Arbitration before and after OLIN: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Greenfield Patricia A.
Published: June 2015

The NLRB's 1984 decision in Olin Corporation established new guidelines making it more likely that the Board and its Regional Offices would defer, in unfair labor practice cases, to the prior decisions of arbitrators in those cases. Analyzing case file data in two NLRB Regional Offices for the January 1983-June 1985 period, the author questions the validity of some assumptions underlying the Olin decision and raises concerns about the consequences of the decision. She finds that the two offices frequently deferred to, and infrequently dissected, arbitral opinions even before Olin, and that subsequently the percentage of cases deferred rose even higher. Furthermore, following Olin, the Board's Division of Advice promulgated, and at least one of the two Regional Offices apparently adopted, an inferential form of analysis that may compromise the statutory rights of charging parties—particularly individual charging parties.
The Effects of Flexible Specialization on Industrial Politics and the Labor Market: The Motion Picture Industry
Authors: Christopherson Susan , Storper Michael
Published: June 2015

The authors, citing historical and statistical evidence spanning three decades, examine how the transition to flexibly specialized production organization in the motion picture industry has changed the distribution of work and wages and the definition of skills. One important result of that process has been the emergence of a new form of intra-occupational labor market segmentation, based much less on differences in hourly wage rates than on differential access to hours of work. Also, the reorganization of the production process has altered the relative bargaining power of employers and workers and of different groups within the industry work force, resulting in increased conflict among segments of the work force and a strengthening of employers' bargaining power vis-à-vis industry unions.
The Impact of Unionism on Municipal Expenditures and Revenues
Authors: Valletta Robert G.
Published: June 2015

This study tests the hypothesis that municipal unions, through the use of political power and multilateral bargaining power, are able to increase the demand for municipal services. An analysis of data on approximately 700 cities from the 1980 Survey of Governments and Census of Population shows, in both cross-section and fixed effects estimates, that collective bargaining increased expenditures in departments covered by a contract. In contrast, collective bargaining apparently did not affect cities' total expenditures, total revenues, or property taxes.
The Twelve-Hour Shift in the Petroleum and Chemical Industries Revisited: An Assessment by Human Resource Management Executives
Authors: Northrup Herbert R.
Published: June 2015

This study, a follow-up of one published in 1979, reports the results of a questionnaire concerning the twelve-hour shift that was sent to human resource management executives at 23 chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic companies in 1987. Respondents from all 11 chemical companies and 4 petroleum companies that returned the form indicated they were using the shift. Most of them reported that the shift was popular with employees, largely because of the longer periods of time off and greater freedom on weekends and evenings it provides. The twelve-hour shift is also widely used in the mini-steel and offshore oil drilling industries, and it is used to a limited extent in paper manufacturing, data processing, metal can manufacturing, and electric utilities.
Managers and Nonunion Workers in the Rubber Industry: Union Avoidance Strategies in the 1930s
Authors: Nelson Daniel
Published: June 2015

This study of the rubber industry in the 1930s confirms the recently developed thesis that employers in that decade were more diverse in their responses to the rise of organized labor, and more successful in thwarting or containing unions, than most early labor histories have given them credit for. The author finds that small and medium-sized firms in the industry were highly sensitive to short-term economic considerations, whereas the largest firms implemented policies that reflected previous industrial relations experiences. Goodyear, Firestone, and U.S. Rubber adopted policies that the author (borrowing a typology from Howell Harris) characterizes as persistent anti-unionism, realism, and progressivism, respectively. All three achieved most of their objectives, including the elimination or restriction of union influence.
The Makewhole Remedy in California Agriculture
Authors: Martin Philip L. , Egan Daniel L.
Published: June 2015

The 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act empowers the board that administers it, the ALRB, to impose a makewhole remedy on employers who fail to bargain in good faith with their employees' certified union representative. ALRB and court rulings during the first years of the Act made the determination of whether makewhole was appropriate, as well as the calculation of the award, increasingly complicated. The authors argue that these problems are largely responsible for widespread criticism of the ALRB by both unions and employers, as well as for extensive litigation that has delayed the fulfillment of most of the ALRB's makewhole orders. They favor keeping the makewhole remedy, but they suggest changes to rationalize its application and expedite the calculation of awards.
Is Pattern Bargaining Dead?
Authors: Ready Kathryn J.
Published: June 2015

This paper challenges the common belief that pattern bargaining largely ended in the 1980s. Applying a measure of pattern bargaining—the dispersion of log wages—to wage data drawn from the same data set that Audrey Freedman used in her widely quoted studies of this subject, the author shows that the extent of pattern bargaining was actually greater in 1983 than in 1977. The evidence suggests that managers' perceptions of changes in the bargaining process, which are the basis for Freedman's claim that pattern bargaining has eroded, are inconsistent with actual changes in wage patterns.
Shirking or Productive Schmoozing: Wages and the Allocation of Time at Work
Authors: Hamermesh Daniel S.
Published: June 2015

This study uses detailed time diaries from household surveys for 1975 and 1981 to examine how changes in the use of time on the job affect earnings. Among nonunion workers, the marginal minute of break time apparently increases earnings, but not as much as does the marginal minute of work time. Among union workers, additional time in unscheduled breaks appears to be associated with significantly higher earnings, though other break time is not. The author concludes that further growth in on-the-job leisure would reduce productivity, that monitoring workers would yield returns to the firm, but that entirely eliminating breaks would be counterproductive.
Problems of Sample Construction in Studies of the Effects of Unemployment Insurance on Unemployment Duration
Authors: Portugal Pedro , Addison John T.
Published: June 2015

Conventional analyses of the effect of unemployment insurance (UI) on unemployment duration have neglected the issue of sample construction. The authors show that such studies, by failing to account for job finding among those eligible for UI within intervals corresponding to the waiting time and filing delays associated with drawing benefits, overstate the expected unemployment duration of UI recipients while understating that of nonrecipients; ignore a dominant line of causation running from duration to UI benefit status; produce misspecified hazard functions; and may overstate by as much as 50% the effect of the UI replacement rate on jobless duration.
Professionals and Workplace Control: Organizational and Demographic Models of Teacher Militancy
Authors: Bacharach Samuel , Bamberger Peter , Conley Sharon
Published: June 2015

Using a sample of 524 elementary and 816 secondary school teachers, the authors evaluate the plausibility of seven alternative models of the determinants of teacher militancy concerning issues of workplace control. The findings suggest that the more plausible models are those that explain militancy as a function of (a) the extent of the teacher's integration into the organization and (b) the teacher's affective response to organizational conditions. For example, a strong inverse relationship was found within both groups of teachers between militancy and satisfaction with supervision. Demographic variables were found to have less impact on teacher militancy than the organizational-integrative variables.
A Meta-Analysis of the Union-Nonunion Wage Gap
Authors: Jarrell Stephen B. , Stanley T. D.
Published: June 2015

The authors use meta-regression analysis, a new method for synthesizing empirical results reported in the economic literature, to corroborate and extend H. Gregg Lewis's landmark 1986 research on the union-nonunion wage gap. Analyzing 152 observations from 114 studies, they investigate how different model specifications, data sets, and variable definitions can affect the estimates of the wage gap. An important finding is that many adjustments for differences among studies, such as the use of actual or weekly earnings rather than logarithmic wages, are themselves time-dependent. The authors' annual estimates of the union-nonunion wage gap for 1967–79 vary directly with the national unemployment rate and range from 8.9% to 12.4%, lower than Lewis's range of 9.6% to 16.4%.
Black Men's Relative Earnings: Are the Gains Illusory?
Authors: Vroman Wayne
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the hypothesis that the increase in the median earnings of black men relative to those of white men after 1964 in the United States largely reflects the labor force withdrawal of high proportions of low-wage black men who availed themselves of government transfers. Analyzing Current Population Survey and Social Security Administration data through 1985, the author finds little empirical support for three direct implications of the “sample censoring” hypothesis. Of the total measured gain in relative earnings between 1964 and 1985 (from .531 to .663, or 13.2 percentage points), he finds that only 14% (or 1.8 percentage points) can be attributed to sample selection.
Segmented Labor Markets: New Evidence from a Study of Four Race-Gender Groups
Authors: Boston Thomas D.
Published: June 2015

Using data from a supplement to the 1983 Current Population Survey, the author tests hypotheses of segmented labor market theory. Two labor market sectors (a primary sector and secondary sector) are identified on the basis of occupational segmentation, as inferred from workers' answers to the question of whether specific skills or prior training were conditions for their employment. The results show significant unexplained earnings differentials across sectors for each of four groups: black men, black women, white men, and white women. Other segmented labor market hypotheses are also generally supported by the results, but distinct variations are found across the four groups.
The Effects of the NLRA on Stockholder Wealth in the 1930s
Authors: Olson Craig A. , Becker Brian E.
Published: June 2015

Whereas most recent research examining the effects of the NLRA on labor-management relations has focused on the impact of specific provisions of the law, this study provides an estimate of the impact of the passage of the NLRA on 75 firms that were at great risk of being unionized in the 1930s. Taking changes in shareholder wealth as a measure of the shift in the balance of power caused by the NLRA, the authors find that the passage of the NLRA caused a statistically and economically significant decline in shareholder wealth for the sampled firms. Specifically, by April 1937, stockholder wealth in the firms was 15.9% lower than would have been expected had the NLRA not been enacted.
Immigrant Participation in the Welfare System
Authors: Borjas George J. , Trejo Stephen J.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents an empirical analysis of immigrant participation in the welfare system using the 1970 and 1980 U.S. Censuses. The availability of two cross-sections allows for identification of cohort and assimilation effects. The data indicate that recent immigrant cohorts use the welfare system more intensively than earlier cohorts. In addition, the longer an immigrant household has been in the United States, the more likely it is to receive welfare. The analysis also suggests that a single factor, the changing national origin mix of the immigrant flow, accounts for much of the increase in welfare participation rates across successive immigrant waves.
The Determinants of Concession Bargaining in the Airline Industry
Authors: Nay Leslie A.
Published: June 2015

The author uses airline industry data to evaluate the role of economic, institutional, and strategic choice factors as determinants of seven types of concession bargaining outcomes. The results indicate that economic characteristics, particularly “ability to pay” measures, are the best predictors of most concessions. Institutional characteristics, such as the percentage of union members employed in the airline industry, are apparently less important, but their addition to the economic and strategic choice variables does improve the model's predictive power. Least influential, the author finds, are the strategic choice variables, such as a decision to compete on the basis of low-cost service. She notes, however, that it is difficult to identify effects of strategic choices independent from the effects of more traditional economic variables.
Discrimination in Professional Sports: A Survey of the Literature
Authors: Kahn Lawrence M.
Published: June 2015

This paper reviews studies of racial and ethnic discrimination in professional sports and briefly examines gender differences in pay among professional tennis players. Many of these studies include far more extensive controls for individual ability and performance than typical studies of discrimination that use labor force data. The cited studies show evidence of salary discrimination and customer discrimination against blacks in basketball, and positional segregation on the basis of race or ethnicity in baseball, football, and hockey. More limited evidence is found for the existence of salary discrimination and fan discrimination against French-Canadian hockey players and fan preferences for white baseball players. Finally, at several Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the money prize for the women's winner is somewhat smaller than that for the men's winner, despite some evidence that the women's matches draw at least as much revenue as the men's matches.
Organizing the Postindustrial Work Force: Lessons from the History of Waitress Unionism
Authors: Cobble Dorothy Sue
Published: June 2015

Using previously unexamined archival material, the author reconstructs one successful historical alternative to the kind of unionism that developed in mass production industries: the “occupational unionism” practiced from the 1900s to the 1960s by waitresses organized into the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. This form of employee representation was distinguished by an emphasis on occupational identity, control over the labor supply, portable rights and benefits, and peer determination of performance standards and workplace discipline. The author discusses the implications of this research for the work of labor relations scholars and policy analysts, and speculates that some elements of occupational unionism may hold promise for organizing and representing workers today.
Numerically Controlled Machine Tools and Worker Skills
Authors: Keefe Jeffrey H.
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the impact of the spread of numerically controlled machine tools on the average skill level of workers in the nonelectrical machinery industry in the United States. Analyzing data from the Industry Wage Surveys of Machinery Manufacturers to trace changes in the skill levels of 57 machining jobs, the author finds that 30 years of the spread of numerically controlled machine tools has resulted in either a very small (1%) reduction in skill levels or no significant change at all, depending on the measure of skill change used. This result supports neither the position of the “post-industrialists,” who have argued that this new technology raises overall machine shop skill levels, nor the position of “labor process” theorists, who have argued that it results in deskilling.
Encouraging Long-Term Tenure: Wage Tilt or Pensions?
Authors: Ippolito Richard A.
Published: June 2015

The author analyzes data on 6,416 persons in 109 firms to determine whether the length of these workers' tenure was positively related either to wage tilt—the payment of below-market wages in the early years of the worker's employment with a firm and above-market wages in the later years—or to the presence of defined benefit pension plans. Contrary to the popular (but little-tested) hypothesis that wage tilt is important in inducing workers to make long-term commitments to the firm, the results show that wage tilt had no significant effect on tenure, except indirectly through its effect on pension quit costs. In contrast, pensions increased tenure in the firm, on average, by more than 20%.
New Evidence on Unions and Layoff Rates
Authors: Montgomery Mark
Published: June 2015

This study uses data from the 1980 EOPP establishment survey to test the hypothesis that unionization leads to higher layoff rates. Previous studies, using industry-level data for manufacturing, have found that a firm with 100% of its workers unionized would lay off more than twice as many employees as an otherwise identical nonunionized firm. The results presented here show the unionization effect to be, at most, less than one-fifth as large as that found using industry data. In fact, the author finds that in manufacturing (though not in nonmanufacturing) it is not clear whether unionized establishments lay off more workers than nonunionized establishments because they are unionized or because they tend to be large.
Women's Participation in Local Union Leadership: The Massachusetts Experience
Authors: Melcher Dale , Eichstedt Jennifer L. , Eriksen Shelley , Clawson Dan
Published: June 2015

A 1989 survey of leaders of a sample of Massachusetts AFL-CIO-affiliated union locals indicates that although women are represented in these union locals' leadership in numbers nearly proportional to the female percentage of membership, they are under-represented in the most influential positions. Women are over-represented as secretaries and seriously under-represented as presidents; they chair many committees, but rarely the key grievance or negotiations committees. Minority women appear to be even more under-represented in leadership positions than are white women. Both male and female union leaders said they would like to see more women in leadership, but most of the men did not seem to view the need for more female leaders as urgent, since they indicated that women's issues were adequately represented by male leaders.
The Viability of Employee-Owned Firms: Evidence from France
Authors: Estrin Saul , Jones Derek C.
Published: June 2015

This study examines data on French producer cooperatives for the years 1970–79 to test the widely accepted theoretical prediction that employee-owned firms either will fail as commercial undertakings or degenerate into capitalist firms as the proportion of hired workers who are not members of the cooperative firm increases. Contrary to this prediction, the authors find a high rate of survival among the producer cooperatives studied, with many cooperatives still healthy after fifty years of operation, and they find no evidence of degeneration—either in terms of the proportion of hired workers, productivity, profitability, or capital-intensity. The findings do, however, suggest that the firms' financial structure became increasingly inefficient with age.
Labor Market Effects of Marijuana and Cocaine Use among Young Men
Authors: Register Charles A. , Williams Donald R.
Published: June 2015

Using data on marijuana and cocaine use from the 1984 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the authors examine the hypothesis that drug use reduces labor market productivity, as measured by wages. From an analysis that controls for the probability of employment and the endogeneity of drug use, they find that although long-term and on-the-job use of marijuana negatively affected wages, the net productivity effect for all marijuana users (both those who engaged in long-term or on-the-job use and those who did not) was positive. No statistically significant association was found between cocaine use and productivity.
An Empirical Analysis of Employed and Unemployed Job Search Behavior
Authors: Blau David M.
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes the job search activities of employed and unemployed job seekers using self-reported data from a 1980 survey. One novel finding from reduced form equations is that many searchers, both employed and unemployed, rejected at least one offer before accepting a job. The reduced form results are used to estimate reservation wages based on a fairly standard model of job search. Most of the job searchers accepted a job offer with a wage below the estimated reservation wage, suggesting that the model does not fit the data well.
Do Minimum Wages Reduce Employment? A Case Study of California, 1987–89
Authors: Card David
Published: June 2015

In July 1988, California's minimum wage rose from $3.35 to $4.25. During the previous year, 11% of workers in the state and 50% of California teenagers had earned less than the new state minimum. Using published data and samples from the Current Population Survey, the author compares changes in the labor market outcomes of California workers to the corresponding changes in a group of states with no increase in the minimum wage. The minimum wage increase raised the earnings of low-wage workers by 5–10%. Contrary to conventional predictions, however, there was no decline in teenage employment, or any relative loss of jobs in retail trade.
The Development of Members' Attitudes toward Their Unions: Sweden and Canada
Authors: Kuruvilla Sarosh , Gallagher Daniel G. , Wetzel Kurt
Published: June 2015

This study examines two widely researched attitudes of union members—satisfaction with and commitment to their union—using 1987–88 data on 1,675 union members in professional occupations in Sweden and 476 blue- and white-collar union members in Canada. The authors find, first, that union commitment and union satisfaction are theoretically and empirically different constructs. Second, tests of a theoretical model of union attitude formation indicate that different (though overlapping) sets of factors influence union commitment and union satisfaction. One finding is that activities and processes that provide members with greater information about the union, such as new member orientation programs, newsletters sent to members' homes, and participation in union activities, effectively promote union commitment, but not union satisfaction. The results are very similar across the two samples, suggesting that they have cross-cultural generalizability.
Are Skill Requirements Rising? Evidence from Production and Clerical Jobs
Authors: Cappelli Peter
Published: June 2015

This paper examines changes in skill requirements for production jobs in 93 manufacturing establishments between 1978 and 1986 and clerical jobs in 211 firms between 1978 and 1988. The unique data set allows an analysis not only of changes in the distribution of employment across jobs—the usual approach—but also of changes in skill requirements within job titles. The results suggest that significant upskilling is occurring within most production jobs in manufacturing; shifts in the composition of the work force toward higher-skill production jobs contribute a smaller amount to the overall rise in average skill requirements. Changes in clerical jobs are more complicated and suggest an even split between jobs that were upskilled and those that were deskilled. The development of new office equipment appears to be associated with the deskilling of specific clerical jobs.
Trends in Market Work Behavior of Women since 1940
Authors: Coleman Mary T. , Pencavel John
Published: June 2015

The authors analyze the movements in work hours and employment of female employees as reported in Decennial Censuses from 1940 to 1980 and in Current Population Surveys from 1980 and 1988. Women with relatively little schooling were working fewer hours in the 1980s than in 1940; the reverse is true of well-educated women. These patterns remain when the data are disaggregated by marital status and the presence of children, and they are also little affected by controls for changes in real wages. In conjunction with results reported in the authors' parallel study on men (January 1993 ILR Review), these findings suggest that gender differences in work behavior are becoming less manifest than skill differences.