bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is There Monopsonistic Discrimination against Immigrants?
Authors: Hirsch Boris , Jahn Elke J.
Published: June 2015

The authors investigate immigrants’ and natives’ labor supply to the firm within an estimation approach based on a dynamic monopsony framework. Applying duration models that account for unobserved worker heterogeneity to a large administrative employer–employee data set for Germany, they find that immigrants supply labor less elastically to firms than do natives. Under monopsonistic wage setting, the estimated elasticity differential predicts a 7.7 log points wage penalty for immigrants thereby accounting for the entire unexplained native–immigrant wage differential of 5.8 to 8.2 log points. When further distinguishing immigrant groups differing in their time spent in the German labor market, their immigration cohort, and their age at entry, the authors find that the observed unexplained wage differential is larger for those groups that show a larger elasticity differential relative to natives. These findings not only suggest that search frictions are a likely cause of employers’ more pronounced monopsony power over their immigrant workers but also imply that employers profit from discriminating against immigrants.
The Consequences of Increased Enforcement of Legal Minimum Wages in a Developing Country
Authors: Gindling T. H. , Mossaad Nadwa , Trejos Juan Diego
Published: June 2015

In August 2010, the Costa Rican government implemented a comprehensive program to increase compliance with legal minimum wages, the Campaña Nacional de Salarios Mínimos (National Campaign for Minimum Wages). To evaluate the impact of the Campaign, the authors use a regression discontinuity (RD) approach, which compares what happened to workers who before the Campaign had been earning below the minimum wage to those who before the Campaign had been earning above the minimum wage. They analyze a panel data set with information on workers from before the Campaign began (July 2010) and after the Campaign had been in operation for some time (July 2011). The evidence supports the conclusion that the Campaign led to an increase in compliance with minimum wage laws in Costa Rica; the mean earnings of those being paid less than the minimum wage in 2010 increased by approximately 10% more than the earnings of those being paid more than the minimum wage. The Campaign led to the largest increases in the wages of women, younger workers, and less-educated workers. The authors find no evidence that the Campaign had a negative impact on the employment of full-time workers whose wages were increased. Weak evidence suggests that the Campaign had a negative impact on the employment of part-time private-sector employees. Although increased inspections mainly targeted minimum wage violations, the authors also observe an increase in compliance with a broader set of labor standards and a positive spillover effect relative to other violations of labor laws. Specifically, the analysis provides evidence that the Campaign had a positive impact on the probability that workers receive legally mandated nonwage benefits such as Social Security (which includes pension and health insurance), overtime pay, sick leave, and paid vacations.
Comment
Authors: Piore Michael J.
Published: June 2015

This comment presents a brief response to Fogel's criticism of the author's position on immigration policy. Piore summarizes his recent study, Birds of Passage, as arguing in part that most undocumented migration to this country in recent years has been initiated by employers with jobs to fill that native workers shun; that most migrants originally intended their stay to be temporary; and that severe problems resulted when this migration, like many others, failed to remain temporary in nature. The author recommends that public policy should focus less on controlling the supply of foreign labor than on controlling the demand for such labor, through improving the terms and enforcement of minimum wage and similar laws.
Participation and Productivity: An Empirical Study
Authors: Rosenberg Richard D. , Rosenstein Eliezer
Published: June 2015

This paper appraises the effects on productivity of a worker participation plan in a unionized foundry. The authors analyzed detailed records of 262 meetings of workers, supervisors, and managers that were held from 1969 to 1975 to discuss means of increasing productivity. An index of participative activity, measuring factors such as the frequency of meetings, the relevance of the subjects discussed, and the number of interchanges in a meeting, was compared with an index of productivity through step-wise multiple regression and other techniques. The authors conclude that an increase in the level of participative activity was associated with an increase in productivity and was more important in this respect than a group bonus plan tied to productivity.
Job Search by Unemployed Women: Determinants of the Asking Wage
Authors: Sandell Steven H.
Published: June 2015

This study uses actual observations of reservation wages from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women who were 35 to 49 years of age in 1972 to estimate, with a two-stage least squares procedure, a model of the job-search behavior of unemployed women. To a greater extent than shown by most previous studies, the results indicate that unemployed women substantially reduce their reservation wages as the period of their unemployment progresses. Also, recipients of unemployment insurance are shown to ask for wages that are substantially higher than those asked for by other unemployed women.
Occupational Attainment and Segregation by Sex
Authors: Brown Randall S. , Moon Marilyn , Zoloth Barbara S.
Published: June 2015

The authors use multinomial logit and multiple discriminant analyses to predict the probabilities that an individual will attain each of several occupational categories based on that individual's characteristics and qualifications. By estimating the parameters of this model from a sample of men and then applying them to a sample of women, the authors simulate the occupational distribution that these women would have attained had they been treated as if they were men. Even after making adjustments for taste differences between men and women, the authors find that their hypothetical results vary substantially from women's actual occupational distribution. They conclude that a significant portion of occupational segregation by sex can be attributed to discrimination.
On the Empirical Testing of the Nash-Zeuthen Bargaining Solution
Authors: Svejnar Jan
Published: June 2015

This paper examines several methodological problems encountered by researchers who have attempted to test the existence of the Nash-Zeuthen bargaining solution. The author attributes the problems to a misrepresentation of Nash-Zeuthen theories, weak empirical tests, and inadequate data. To help overcome these problems, he suggests two empirical strategies.
Unionism and the Dispersion of Wages
Authors: Freeman Richard B.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the effect of trade unionism on the dispersion of wages among male wage and salary workers in the private sector in the United States. It finds that the application of union wage policies designed to standardize rates within and across establishments significantly reduces wage dispersion among workers covered by union contracts and that unions further reduce wage dispersion by narrowing the white-collar/blue-collar differential within establishments. These effects dominate the more widely studied impact of unionism on the dispersion of average wages across industries, so that on net unionism appears to reduce rather than increase wage dispersion or inequality in the United States.
The National Accord as a Social Contract
Authors: Flanagan Robert J.
Published: June 2015

In September 1979 the Carter administration and the AFL-CIO issued the text of a National Accord, which discussed general principles to be followed in several areas of economic and social policy. In combining discussions of pay-price policy and other economic and social issues, the accord resembles “social contract” arrangements in several Western European countries. This invited paper assesses the viability of the National Accord as a social contract by examining three interrelated issues: the suitability of the accord as an institutional mechanism to secure wage and price restraint, given the characteristics of the underlying wage-determination process in this country; the breadth of institutional representation in the negotiations leading to the accord; and the ability of the negotiators to deliver on their commitments. The author concludes that the accord fails on all those counts to be an effective social contract, but he also argues that any social contract approach to wage and price restraint is unlikely to be successful in this country.
Regulation, Deregulation, and Collective Bargaining in Airlines
Authors: Hendricks Wallace , Feuille Peter , Szerszen Carol
Published: June 2015

To test the hypothesis that government regulation of an industry's product market increases union power in that industry, this study first compares earnings and the “scores” of union contracts in airlines and manufacturing, and then compares negotiated wage rates and union contract scores in the more regulated and the less regulated segments of air transportation. The results, while not definitive because of data limitations, consistently support the hypothesis for the period prior to the recent deregulation of airlines. The authors nevertheless predict that deregulation will have little effect on union power in this industry, arguing that the industry and union characteristics that have developed over the forty years of regulation have created a bargaining environment that will not change significantly in the near future.
Compensation, Safety, and Absenteeism: Evidence from the Paper Industry
Authors: Allen Steven G.
Published: June 2015

This paper develops an economic model of absenteeism and tests that model with data from a sample of establishments in the paper industry. Absenteeism is viewed as a desirable nonpecuniary element of the compensation package. The model, which is based upon the hedonic framework developed by Sherwin Rosen, focuses on the effects of wages, fringe benefits, and employment hazards on the long-run equilibrium absence rate of an establishment. The author finds that absence rates are significantly higher in paper plants with low wages and high occupational illness and injury rates, as predicted by the model. The impact of fringe benefits is less clear-cut both theoretically and empirically. The results suggest that work attendance plays an important part in labor market adjustment; studies that focus only on wage differences will underestimate the compensating differential for employment hazards, which includes increased absence rates as well as higher wages.
The Effect of Settlement Stage on Negotiated Wage Settlements in Canada
Authors: Auld D. A. L. , Christofides L. N. , Swidinsky R. , Wilton D. A.
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes the effect of the particular stage of wage settlement on the negotiated wage increase, using micro data on Canadian labor contracts between 1966 and 1975. The sample data base was divided into direct first-stage bargaining, mediation-conciliation, and work stoppage/arbitration, and structural wage equations were estimated for each set of data. The results indicate that as negotiations move from direct bargaining to work stoppage, labor market conditions, measured by a vacancy rate, become less important as an explanatory variable and price catch-up becomes more important.
Racial Discrimination in the British Labor Market
Authors: Firth Michael
Published: June 2015

This paper reports the results of a study of racial discrimination in the British job market for accountants and financial executives. The research design involved sending letters from fictitious applicants in response to job advertisements in the press. The applicants represented seven different nationalities, although all had identical qualifications and work experience. An analysis of the responses to these applications shows that considerable racial discrimination remains in the British labor market several years after the adoption of the Race Relations Act of 1968.
Job Mobility and Earnings over the Life Cycle
Authors: Borjas George J.
Published: June 2015

Previous studies have shown that in the short run quits generally lead to wage increases on the next job and layoffs to no increase or to a wage cut. The author of this study argues, however, that the prospect of a job change for any reason creates a disincentive for a worker to invest in training that is specific to the current job, and therefore those who change jobs frequently may earn less over their life cycle than those who, other things equal, seldom change jobs. An analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Men supports that expectation, showing that for white males job separations usually lead to wage gains in the short run but nonmobile workers tend to achieve significantly higher wages over the long run.
Married Women in Part-Time Employment
Authors: Long James E. , Jones Ethel B.
Published: June 2015

This research deals with three aspects of the part-time employment pattern of working wives: (1) the wives' characteristics, (2) the level and structure of their earnings in part-time jobs, and (3) the duration of their employment when part-time jobs are available to them. This study improves upon previous research by using multivariate analysis to determine if the variation in the incidence of part-time work consistently found in other studies persists when earnings potential, fertility, family income, and other factors that may vary by age or race are held constant. It differs further by including a data source that contains direct measures of market wages and experience for a large sample of married working women. The authors find that husband's income, family size, and the wife's health, race, and previous work experience are among the variables that influence the probability that the wife works part time. They also find that the level of wages and returns to some investments in human capital are relatively lower in the part-time labor market but that there are similarities between the earnings structure of part-time and full-time jobs. They conclude that part-time work opportunities appear to increase the length of the working life of married women.
The Effect of Unionism on Fringe Benefits
Authors: Freeman Richard B.
Published: June 2015

This study analyzes the impact of unionism on fringes paid to production workers, using data on individual establishments. It compares fringe expenditures in establishments having the same level of compensation per hour and finds that unionism raises the share of compensation allotted to fringes, particularly to pensions, vacation pay, and life, accident, and health insurance. In addition, since unionism also raises the straight-time wage rate, itself a prime determinant of expenditures on fringes, unionism has a very sizeable impact on total fringe expenditures, as well as on the fringe share of compensation. The union fringe effect exceeds, in percentage terms, the union wage effect and is sufficiently large to suggest that standard union wage studies understate the union effect on total compensation. The study also compares the fringe expenditures of production and non-production workers within the same establishment, controlling for within-establishment pay policies. The findings suggest that the presence of a union among production workers in an establishment may have a sizeable spillover effect on the fringes paid nonproduction workers in that establishment.
The Effect of Unionism on Workers' Valuation of Future Pension Benefits
Authors: Leigh Duane E.
Published: June 2015

This paper investigates the impact of unionism on the pension benefits workers expect to receive on retirement. The valuation of future benefits by workers, rather than actual employer expenditures on pensions, is examined because expected benefits should be the more important variable in explaining the labor market behavior of individual workers. Analysis of data for middle-aged men, taken from the National Longitudinal Surveys, suggests that union workers are more knowledgeable than nonunion workers about their retirement benefits, and also the average union worker expects to receive a pension higher than that expected by the average nonunion worker. More specifically, among firms providing pensions, the expected benefits are actually lower in union firms than in nonunion firms, but that difference is outweighed by the fact that nonunion firms are much more likely than union firms to have no pension plan at all.
Estimating the Narcotic Effect: Choosing Techniques That Fit the Problem
Authors: Kochan Thomas A. , Baderschneider Jean
Published: June 2015

This paper compares the Butler and Ehrenberg analysis of the narcotic effects of impasse procedures, presented in the preceding article, with the purposes, methods, and empirical results of the authors' earlier paper on the same subject. The authors use the differences in the two papers to argue that a need exists to achieve a better blending in industrial relations research of model building and testing, of quantitative and qualitative data, and of simple and complex statistical tests. The differences in results presented in the two papers are shown to reflect, in part, differences in the definition of the problems examined. These authors stress the importance of choosing statistical techniques that fit the theoretical and policy problems of interest to industrial relations researchers and practitioners, and the power gained from mixing qualitative and quantitative methods.
Union Organization among Engineers: A Current Assessment
Authors: Latta Geoffrey W.
Published: June 2015

This article presents a study of a number of campaigns conducted since 1968 by unions seeking to organize professional engineers. The author draws on the results of interviews with union and management representatives to describe four major causes of the relative failure of unions on this front: employer opposition, the attitudes and values of engineers, the lack of bargaining power of engineers, and union attitudes and organizing policies. The author discusses the way in which these four factors interact to thwart engineering unionization, focussing on the manner in which strong resistance to unionization by employers can draw on a value system in the United States that is not supportive of unionization. He concludes that the short-term prospects for further unionization of this occupation are very limited.
The Determinants of Bargaining Structure in U.S. Manufacturing Industries
Authors: Hendricks Wallace E. , Kahn Lawrence M.
Published: June 2015

This study uses BLS data on individual collective bargaining agreements and industry data from several sources to estimate the determinants of bargaining structure in the manufacturing sector. Probit analysis is used to estimate, first, the probability that a given agreement is multifirm rather than single-firm in coverage and, second, the probability that a single-firm agreement in a multiplant firm is less than firmwide in coverage. Industry concentration and plant size are found to be strongly associated with single-firm as opposed to multifirm agreements, other things equal; among multiplant firms with single-firm agreements, however, concentration and plant size strongly increase the probability of firmwide agreements. In addition, union rivalry tends to lead to decentralized bargaining units and labor intensity of production to centralized units.
The Earnings of Male Hispanic Immigrants in the United States
Authors: Borjas George J.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents an empirical analysis of earnings differentials among male Hispanic immigrants in the United States. The principal finding of the study is that there are major differences in the rate of economic mobility of the various Hispanic groups. In particular, the rate of economic progress by Cuban immigrants exceeds that of other Hispanic groups, the result in part of the fact that Cuban immigrants have invested more heavily in U.S. schooling than other Hispanic immigrants arriving in this country at the same time. The author concludes that these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that political refugees are likely to face higher costs of return immigration than do “economic” immigrants, and therefore the former have greater incentives to adapt rapidly to the U.S. labor market.
Teacher Unionism and Collective Bargaining in England and Wales
Authors: Thornton Robert J.
Published: June 2015

This article analyzes the teacher union movement and the system of teacher bargaining in England and Wales. Although the teacher union movement is marked by an unusually high degree of organizational fragmentation, salaries in both countries are negotiated in a single forum at the national level called the “Burnham Committee.” This committee is unusual in the British context in that it has a statutory basis and negotiates fixed-term agreements which are legally enforceable. The author traces the postwar history of teacher negotiations and shows that the Burnham system has experienced increasing difficulties in the past decade, such as a rise in teacher militancy and a frequent resort to arbitration and other forms of government intervention in the negotiation process.
Unions and the Labor Market Status of White and Minority Youth
Authors: Holzer Harry J.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents data showing that unions have a very substantial effect on the wages of young union workers, particularly young blacks, but that they also have a negative effect on the wages of young blacks who are not unionized. The effects of unions on employment are negative for both groups and especially for blacks. In addition, the data indicate that young blacks within the labor force have union membership rates that are roughly comparable to those of young whites, but rates for young blacks are lower after accounting for differences in the rate of labor-force participation of young blacks and whites. Young blacks also continue to be underrepresented in strongly unionized crafts and in the construction industry, while being overrepresented in the weakly organized and low-wage service sector. These results suggest the need to improve further the access of blacks to unionized employment.
The Macroeconomic Strike Model: A Study of Seventeen Countries, 1948–1975
Authors: Paldam Martin , Pedersen Peder J.
Published: June 2015

This paper reports the results of an analysis of data on industrial conflict (strikes and lockouts) in seventeen OECD countries during the period 1948–75. A number of models are tested on this broad data set, including the major elements of the Ashenfelter and Johnson model. Contrary to Ashenfelter and Johnson's results for the United States, this study finds for most countries a positive relationship between the number of conflicts and the rate of increase in real wages in manufacturing. Further, the increase in nominal wages produces stronger results in all models tested than the increase in real wages; the effect of unemployment is unstable across countries; and only one of two political variables yields even modest results. The authors suggest that an explanation of their findings might be found in the relationship between changes in the wage structure and changes in the level of conflict.
Strikes as a Result of Imperfect Information
Authors: Mauro Martin J.
Published: June 2015

This paper proposes a model of the bargaining process that recognizes that negotiators have only imperfect information at their command. The author argues that the probability of a strike occurring will increase if one party bases its perception of the opponent's position on the same variables employed to form its own position, when the opponent's position is, in fact, based on different variables. Strike probability is therefore assumed to be related to movements in variables of interest to only one side.

The model is tested on a sample of fourteen bargaining relationships drawn from the series Wage Chronology, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which details settlements between particular firms and unions over a period of about thirty years. Estimates of strike probability are derived from the maximum-likelihood logit procedure. The findings suggest that although both relative and absolute wage increases in a firm have a negative effect on strike frequency, relative changes are more important. In addition, factors that tend to reduce the potential that the parties will misperceive the positions of one another also reduce the probability of a strike occurring. The analysis shows, for example, that strikes are less likely to occur in bargaining relationships whose agreements follow patterns. Finally, after controlling for fixed effects, the author finds that a strike is less likely to occur if one had taken place at the time of the previous negotiation, indicating that the strike serves a learning process for the parties.
Political Bias in NLRB Unfair Labor Practice Decisions
Authors: Cooke William N. , Gautschi Frederick H.
Published: June 2015

Previous research has suggested that U.S. presidents appoint members to the National Labor Relations Board who reflect the administration's own union-management predilections. No adequate empirical evidence has yet been reported, however, to show that, once appointed, Board members act in a biased manner. The present study develops and tests a choice model of Board member decisions in selected unfair labor practice cases over the 1954–77 period. The evidence strongly supports the popular belief that Board decisions are heavily dependent upon shifting political winds.
The Intra-Unit Wage Structure and Unions: A Median Voter Model
Authors: White Michael D.
Published: June 2015

This study adopts the median voter model to analyze the influence of unions on wage structures within collective bargaining units. The model predicts that the intra-unit wage structure will be changed to increase the share of the total wage bill received by the median members of the bargaining unit. This prediction is examined through a case study of a collective bargaining unit, the faculty of the state university system in Minnesota. The changes in the wage structure of the unit proposed by the union and those ultimately implemented are both consistent with the median voter model.
Wages, Nonwage Job Characteristics, and Labor Mobility
Authors: Bartel Ann P.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the effects of a set of nonwage job characteristics on the quit decisions of young and middle-aged men. The data set was constructed by merging data in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young and Mature Men with data from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles file and the Bureau of Economic Analysis file on fringe benefits. The empirical analysis shows that some nonwage job attributes have significant influence on worker quit behavior and that there are important differences in the effects of the nonwage job characteristics across age groups. Young men are significantly more likely than older men to quit repetitive jobs, for example, whereas the presence of bad working conditions is a more important factor in the quit decisions of the older cohort. The results also indicate that, for the older men, fringe benefits have a stronger effect on quit decisions than wages do. Further evidence on age differences is provided through an analysis of panel data from the Quality of Employment Survey.
Union Wage Practices and Wage Dispersion within Establishments
Authors: Freeman Richard B.
Published: June 2015

This study analyzes establishment-level data primarily to examine the effect of unionism on the wage structure within establishments. The major finding is that within-establishment dispersion of wages is significantly narrower in unionized than in nonunionized establishments, a pattern the author attributes in large part to unions' wage practices, such as single rate or automatic-progression modes of wage payment as opposed to merit reviews and individual wage determination. The data also show that dispersion in average wages is narrower among organized plants, but by more modest amounts than the within-establishment differential. Overall, the evidence suggests a major role for explicit union wage policies in explaining the dispersion of wages within firms and in the economy as a whole.
An Economic Evaluation of the Service Contract Act
Authors: Goldfarb Robert S. , Heywood John S.
Published: June 2015

The Service Contract Act of 1965 is one of three major laws requiring that “prevailing wages” be paid by private employers with federal contracts. This paper develops a preliminary cost-benefit framework for evaluating that Act. On the benefit side, the authors identify and analyze eight possible rationales for the Act, such as the desire to prevent low wages and to encourage collective bargaining. The authors find most of the rationales to be intellectually unsatisfactory, especially in light of the way in which the Act has actually been administered. On the cost side, the authors develop a methodology for estimating the wage costs of the Act, using as an example the cost of extending coverage to federal research and development contracts. The authors also describe changes in the Act's administrative rules proposed recently by the Carter and Reagan administrations.
Market and Nonmarket Influences on Curriculum Choice by College Students
Authors: Fiorito Jack , Dauffenbach Robert C.
Published: June 2015

Many labor economists and other researchers have attempted to develop models of the workings of the market for college-trained manpower. This paper reviews this previous research on curriculum choice and then tests an alternative model with data on choices made by male baccalaureates across a wide spectrum of science and engineering curricula. The influence of both methodology and the analytical framework on the identification of relevant variables is explored. Particular attention is then given to nonmarket influences, typically assumed in previous studies not to play a significant role. Results for pooled and time-series specifications provide some support for the hypothesis that curriculum choice follows labor market developments, but they also suggest that abilities and interests may be important predictors.
The Direction of Wage Spillovers in Manufacturing
Authors: Vroman Susan
Published: June 2015

This study develops a model of wage behavior for both union and nonunion workers in the U.S. manufacturing sector and tests that model with separate union and nonunion wage-change series covering the period 1960 to 1978. The empirical results support the traditional view that union wage behavior influences or spills over into nonunion wage changes but not vice versa. These results are of particular interest because they contrast sharply with an earlier study by Flanagan that reported an opposite spillover effect. Flanagan's results are shown to be quite sensitive to the choice of model specification and data period.
The New Employee-Relations Climate in Airlines
Authors: Northrup Herbert R.
Published: June 2015

This study examines recent developments in the air transport industry and assesses the extent to which deregulation has been a compelling factor of change. Among the problems examined are the entry of nonunion carriers into the market, the flight controllers' strike, the decline of traffic during the recent recession, and particularly the differing union approaches to the industry's problems, as exemplified by those of the Air Line Pilots Association and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The author concludes that the impact of deregulation has been significant and is likely to reduce union power permanently in this industry, but he is not certain that the recent ventures in union-management cooperation will survive the end of the recession and the lifting of competitive restrictions imposed as a result of the flight controllers' strike.
Determinants of the Outcomes of Union Certification Elections
Authors: Cooke William N.
Published: June 2015

This study analyzes determinants of union election outcomes at the level of the work unit. Within a theoretical framework of utility maximization, voting behavior is modeled as a function of the social psychology of groups, the economic and sociopolitical environment, NLRB procedures, and the extent of union organization of the industry. Utilizing NLRB certification-election records for 1979, the author finds a negative relationship between unit size and union victories in units of fewer than 65 workers, but no relationship in larger units. Also negatively related to union victories are delays between petition and election dates, elections held in southern states having right-to-work laws, and elections involving the Teamsters. In contrast, workers are more likely to vote for representation as unemployment levels and the proportion of consent elections rise and as the rate of unionization in their industry rises to 35 percent.
Union Effects on White-Collar Compensation
Authors: Antos Joseph R.
Published: June 2015

This paper uses two new data sources, each of which combines information on worker and establishment characteristics with detailed information on the components of employee compensation, to examine union/nonunion pay differentials for white-collar workers. Estimates reveal that nonunion wages and total compensation are more responsive than union pay levels to worker productivity differences, such as education and work experience. Also, large firms pay 10 to 15 percent more to their white-collar employees than small firms in the nonunion sector but only 5 percent or less in the union sector. Overall, the white-collar union wage differential appears to be 3.5 to 4.0 percent, rising to 7.1 percent when fringe benefits are included in the dependent variable. Significant spillovers to nonunion white-collar workers, which appear to erode the measured union/nonunion pay differentials, are also found.
Predicting the Outcome of Union Certification Elections: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Heneman Herbert G. , Sandver Marcus H.
Published: June 2015

This paper reviews the large body of literature examining the outcomes of NLRB certification elections. The authors first review the major patterns of the research conducted to date and then analyze twenty-nine studies in depth. These studies exemplify the range of methodologies used and results obtained within each of the two major kinds of election studies: those analyzing data gathered from individual voters and those analyzing NLRB data on election units. The review concludes with an appraisal of the current state of research on election outcomes and with policy recommendations for labor, management, and government representatives.
The Effect of Company Campaigns on Certification Elections: Law and Reality Once Again
Authors: Dickens William T.
Published: June 2015

Recent studies have challenged the conclusion Getman, Goldberg, and Herman reached in their 1976 study that company campaigns have little if any effect on how workers vote in union certification elections. This study attempts to reconcile these conflicting results by re-analyzing data collected by Getman, Goldberg, and Herman for their study. The author estimates a probit model of voting that controls for several variables not considered in other studies. He finds that employer threats and actions taken against union supporters, some written communications, and captive-audience speeches all have statistically significant effects on voting. Election simulations based on the voting model also show that the effects of these employer tactics can be important in determining election outcomes.
Union Organizing: Costs and Benefits
Authors: Voos Paula B.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the costs and benefits to current union members in manufacturing of programs to organize the unorganized. The marginal cost of organizing an additional employee, in constant dollars, is estimated for a sample of unions between 1964 and 1977. The primary benefit of organizing that is quantifiable is the extent to which the maintenance or extension of union coverage permits the maintenance of or increase in the union wage. Estimates of this benefit are derived from previous econometric research linking the union wage to the percentage of the industry organized. This single benefit is found to be larger than the estimated marginal cost of extending union coverage in 19 of 20 manufacturing industries.
Sex Discrimination in the Promotion Process
Authors: Olson Craig A. , Becker Brian E.
Published: June 2015

Previous research has suggested that intra-occupational earnings differences are the principal source of the long-standing earnings gap between men and women. Following that line of research, this study examines the extent of gender differences in the incidence of and returns to promotions. Drawing on the Quality of Employment Panel, the authors compare the earnings and promotion experience of men and women over the period 1973–1977. After controlling for unmeasured differences in job level and constant individual ability in a fixed-effect model, they conclude that the returns to promotion are comparable for men and women. Further analysis indicates, however, that women are held to higher promotion standards than men and therefore receive fewer promotions than men with equal measured abilities. Although the female/male wage ratio in this sample increased by nearly 6 percent over four years, the increase could have been as much as 9.2 percent if women and men had been held to the same promotion standards.
Union-Management Cooperation in the United States: Lessons from the 1920S
Authors: Jacoby Sanford M.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents an analysis of several experiments in union-management cooperation that took place during the 1920s. The author examines the economic and social factors that influenced the formation, operation, and decline of these experiments. Although observers at that time hoped that union-management cooperation would be widely adopted, it extended only to industries suffering from declining markets for union-made products and failed to survive the Great Depression. When the author compares these early experiments to current cooperative endeavors, he concludes that unions and employers will voluntarily work together to improve productivity only within an intermediate range of economic stress.
Cost-of-Living Escalators in Major Union Contracts
Authors: Card David
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes the price-indexation provisions of a sample of major Canadian collective bargaining agreements concluded between 1968 and 1975. Under these contracts, escalated wage increases comprised about one-third of total wage increases and represented a major source of erosion in the relative wages of skilled workers. The author argues that indexation provisions are usefully characterized by the marginal elasticity of the contractual wage rate to increases in prices. Measures of this responsiveness indicate that, on average, contractual wage rates are only slightly less than unit elastic with respect to price increases. There is considerable variation across industries, however, in the extent to which wages respond to price changes.
Fringe Benefits and the Cost of Changing Jobs
Authors: Mitchell Olivia S.
Published: June 2015

One of the costs borne by workers changing jobs is the income loss associated with forfeited fringe benefits, including nonvested pensions, paid vacation and sick leave, group medical and life insurance coverage, and possibly profit-sharing and stock-ownership programs. This paper uses longitudinal information on a representative sample of workers to derive empirical estimates of the costs of changing jobs that are attributable to the loss of such benefits. Employer-sponsored pension and health insurance plans prove to be the most important quantitatively.
The Measurement of Race and Gender Wage Differentials: Evidence from the Federal Sector
Authors: Borjas George J.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents an empirical analysis of wage differentials based on race and gender in the federal bureaucracy. By focusing on the study of interagency variations in wage differentials, the author shows, first, that the use in earnings functions of a simple dummy variable to indicate race and gender leads to downward-biased estimates of the standardized wage differential. Second, across federal agencies there is a positive correlation between wage differentials based on race and those based on gender. Finally, the low relative wage of black females is more a result of their gender than of their race. This variety of empirical findings shows the promise of future studies that concentrate on the interfirm variance in employment policies that affect women and minorities.
The Use of Transfer Payments by Immigrants
Authors: Blau Francine D.
Published: June 2015

This paper uses data from the 1976 Survey of Income and Education to compare the receipt of transfers by families headed by male and female immigrants and those headed by native-born Americans. The average level of transfers is found to be considerably higher among families headed by immigrants, but this is almost entirely the result of the higher average age of family members among the immigrant group — a reflection of the large inflows of immigrants into the U.S. during the pre-1924 period. When age and other factors are held constant, immigrant families are found to be considerably less likely to rely on welfare than native families, and their receipts from social insurance programs are found to be only slightly higher.
Illegal Immigrants and Domestic Employment
Authors: Grossman Jean Baldwin
Published: June 2015

This paper develops and tests a simple general equilibrium model to explore the common allegation that illegal immigrants take jobs away from native-born workers. A simulation of the effect of an increase in illegal immigration shows that the distribution of the immigrants among industries is critical in determining their effect on employment. If two-thirds of the illegal immigrants are employed in the agricultural service sector, for example, an increase in illegal immigration would increase domestic unskilled employment, but if only half are employed in that sector, an increase would lead to a decline in domestic unskilled unemployment.
The Role of Unions in Hospital Cost Inflation
Authors: Sloan Frank A. , Adamache Killard W.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the impact of unions on worker compensation and total costs in hospitals, both in specific departments and in the hospital as a whole. An analysis of data for 367 hospitals for the years 1974 and 1977 shows that unions raised the mean compensation of hospital workers by 8.8 percent without producing offsetting increases in worker productivity. Thus, unions do increase hospital costs, although far less than health insurance and other factors do.
The Job Satisfaction and Union Commitment of Unionized Engineers
Authors: Gordon Michael E. , Beauvais Laura L. , Ladd Robert T.
Published: June 2015

This study presents data on the union commitment and job satisfaction of a sample of unionized engineers and then, to provide a basis of comparison, similar data on a sample of unionized technicians and a sample of nonprofessional white-collar workers — all employed by the same organization. The engineers and technicians did not differ markedly in union commitment or job satisfaction, but the engineers expressed greater union commitment than did the nonprofessional workers. The correlation in all three samples between satisfaction with the union and satisfaction with management provides support for the concept of dual allegiance.
The Labor-Force Participation of Older Workers
Authors: Duggan James E.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the decision to participate in the labor force made by persons over 54 years of age. Through the use of a set of pooled time-series cross-section observations from the Current Population Survey over the years 1974 – 80, the analysis emphasizes the effect of two factors on this decision: cohort crowding and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The empirical results reveal that pressures arising from the relative growth in the youth population led to increased labor market activity by older women; that retirement incentives in the form of SSI and social security had a negative effect on female as well as male labor-force behavior, though the effects were considerably stronger for men; and that the differential between men's and women's participation rates was largely a result of the female response to marital status and retirement incentives.
The British Experience under a Statute Prohibiting Unfair Dismissal
Authors: Dickens Linda , Hart Moira , Jones Michael , Weekes Brian
Published: June 2015

Statutory protection against unfair dismissal was introduced in Britain in 1971. This article examines the origin, nature, and effectiveness of that statute, which is enforced by publicly funded, tripartite tribunals. The authors show that only a minority of dismissed employees enter claims under the statute; only a minority of claimants win any relief; and only a minority of successful claimants win re-employment, most receiving instead relatively small sums of money. The authors offer explanations for that pattern and describe the reaction of British unions and employees to the statute.
The Role of Rescheduled School Days in Teacher Strikes
Authors: Olson Craig A.
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the bargaining effects of the decisions made by school boards in Pennsylvania whether to reschedule teacher strike days so that a district may qualify for state aid. Because a decision to reschedule strike days can substantially reduce teacher strike costs, the author hypothesizes that strikes are more likely to occur in districts where teachers expect strike days to be rescheduled. The author confirms this hypothesis by an analysis of data for 264 school districts for the 1975 – 78 period, using a two-equation, bivariate probit model of strikes and the decision to reschedule strike days.
Compensation for Death from Asbestos
Authors: Johnson William G. , Heler Edward
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes the adequacy and equity of compensation to the survivors of 560 men who died between 1967 and 1977 from workplace exposure to asbestos. Data were gathered in interviews with the men's widows, who received compensation primarily from workers' compensation, social insurance, private pensions, and tort awards and settlements. The results show that compensation was neither adequate in amount, when compared to income losses, nor equitably distributed among survivors. The authors use their findings to evaluate one of the recent bills before Congress that would institute a federal system of compensation for asbestos-related deaths.
Faculty Advancement in a Nontraditional University Environment
Authors: Kaun David E.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the rates of faculty advancement during the formative years (1965 – 77) of the University of California at Santa Cruz. An explicit goal of the campus administration was to obtain high-quality undergraduate teaching from faculty members who were to be appraised on the basis of universitywide criteria that emphasize research. Previous studies of faculty advancement have shown little or no reward for high-quality teaching, but this study finds a significant relationship between faculty advancement and quality teaching, in addition to the usual relationship with length of service and publications. Also, the effect of quality teaching is weakest in the division that least conforms to the unique aspects of the college. The author concludes that the institutional environment can influence the faculty reward structure to promote improved teaching.