bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Labor Regulations and Job Quality: Evidence from India
Authors: van der Meulen Rodgers Yana , Menon Nidhiya
Published: June 2015

The authors examine whether measures of job quality in India's manufacturing sector differ systematically across states with varying types of labor regulation. Their analysis uses repeated cross sections of India's National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) household survey data from 1983 to 2004 merged with data on state-level regulations covering employment adjustment and dispute resolution. Results from a differences-in-differences procedure show that restrictions on employment adjustment and dispute settlement in a pro-worker direction contribute to improved job quality for women along most measures. Such regulations yield mixed results for men, however; results indicate that higher wages come at the expense of fewer hours, substitution toward in-kind compensation, and less job security. The authors conclude that India's labor legislation does have a silver lining with respect to job quality, but that silver lining applies selectively.
Is Part-Time Employment Beneficial for Firm Productivity?
Authors: Künn-Nelen Annemarie , de Grip Andries , Fouarge Didier
Published: June 2015

With this article, the authors are the first to analyze and explain the relationship between part-time employment and firm productivity. Using a unique data set on the Dutch pharmacy sector that includes the working hours of all employees and a “hard” physical measure of firm productivity, the authors estimate a production function including heterogeneous employment shares based on working hours. The authors find that firms with a large part-time employment share are more productive than firms with a large share of full-time workers: a 10% increase in the part-time share is associated with 4.8% higher productivity. Additional data on the timing of labor demand show that this can be explained by a different allocation of part-timers compared with full-timers. This enables firms with large part-time employment shares to allocate their labor force more efficiently across working days.
The Causal Effect of Faculty Unions on Institutional Decision-Making
Authors: Porter Stephen R.
Published: June 2015

The author's goal in this article is to estimate the causal effect of unionization on institutional decision-making, using a national survey of presidents and faculty senate leaders to measure the level of shared governance at 341 public universities in 15 different areas. To handle the endogeneity of faculty unionization, an index of state employee collective bargaining rights is used as an instrument for unionization. Findings indicate that unionization greatly increases faculty influence over institutional decision-making, both in compensation and in areas outside of compensation.
Pathways to Enforcement: Labor Inspectors Leveraging Linkages with Society in Argentina
Authors: Amengual Matthew
Published: June 2015

Regulations essential for improving labor standards are often ignored to the detriment of workers. In many countries, the agencies charged with enforcement lack resources and are subject to political interference. How can inspectors in flawed bureaucracies overcome these barriers and enforce labor regulations? In this article, based on case studies of subnational variation in Argentina, the author develops a theory to explain enforcement in places with weak and politicized labor inspectorates. The framework focuses on two factors: the strength of linkages between bureaucrats and allied civil society organizations, and the level of administrative resources in the bureaucracy. Linkages facilitate routinized resource sharing and the construction of pro- enforcement coalitions, and administrative resources determine whether bureaucrats use societal resources passively or strategically. By identifying pathways to enforcement that are obscured by dominant approaches to studying labor inspection, this research opens up new possibilities for crafting strategies to improve labor standards.
New Evidence on Gender and the Labor Market: A Symposium
Authors: Kahn Lawrence M.
Published: June 2015

In this issue of the ILRReview, the first five articles provide important new evidence on gender and employment. The papers were all independently submitted and were refereed through the usual editorial process. Because the papers' unifying theme is gender and labor market outcomes, the Editors felt that creating a symposium out of this new body of work would serve the research community studying gender, as well as the policymakers concerned with gender and labor market outcomes. All of the articles use new data sources or advanced statistical techniques to greatly enhance our understanding of gender and employment.
Revisiting the Minimum Wage—Employment Debate: Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater?
Authors: Neumark David , Salas J. M. Ian , Wascher William
Published: June 2015

The authors revisit the long-running minimum wage–employment debate to assess new studies claiming that estimates produced by the panel data approach commonly used in recent minimum wage research are flawed by that approach's failure to account for spatial heterogeneity. The new studies use research designs intended to control for this heterogeneity and conclude that minimum wages in the United States have not reduced employment. The authors explore the ability of the new research designs to isolate reliable identifying information, and they test the designs' untested assumptions about the construction of better control groups. Their analysis reveals problems with the new research designs. Moreover, using methods that let the data identify the appropriate control groups, their results reaffirm the evidence of disemployment effects, with teen employment elasticities near −0.15. This evidence, they conclude, still shows that minimum wages pose a tradeoff of higher wages for some against job losses for others.
Putting Data to Work for Workers: The Role of Information Technology in U.S. Worker Protection Agencies
Authors: Morantz Alison D.
Published: June 2015

The adoption by the Department of Labor (DOL) of new Strategic Goals in 2010 represented an important turning point in its history. In a more thoroughgoing fashion than ever before, DOL has embraced the principle that outcomes and impacts, not outputs, are the criteria by which its worker protection efforts should be judged. The Department's recently adopted New Approach specifies that rigorous data analysis and program evaluation, informed by social scientific research methods, are now the preferred metrics for quantifying the Department's effects on the regulated community. Notably absent from the Agency's public documentation, however, is any detailed evaluation of the role of information technology in supporting its enforcement agenda. In this article, the author seeks to fill this void by describing how a comprehensive reevaluation of DOL's data infrastructure and IT capabilities could further the principles embodied in the New Approach. She proposes four criteria—quality, scope, accessibility, and interconnectivity—for assessing the performance of each regulatory IT system; enumerates ways in which each criterion can be observed and measured; identifies ways in which DOL's current data systems fall short; and suggests promising avenues for reform. The author also highlights important barriers that impede systemic IT change and suggests ways in which they might be overcome.
The Impact of Client Nonpayment on the Income of Contingent Workers: Evidence from the Freelancers Union Independent Worker Survey
Authors: Rodgers William M. , Horowitz Sara , Wuolo Gabrielle
Published: June 2015

The authors use the Freelancers Union's annual Independent Worker Survey (IWS) from 2007 to 2011, the union's administrative membership file, and the American Community Survey to estimate the extent to which client nonpayment of independent workers is a problem and the ability of a written contract to reduce the odds of nonpayment. They develop tests for nonresponse and sample selection biases, although due to a lack of instrumental variables and contract endogeneity, they must speculate on the size of the bias. They find that contract use is associated with income that is 13.7% higher (for New York State respondents 21.7% higher) than income produced without a contract. They also find that contract use reduces nonpayment; however, even when a contract is used, 38.8% of respondents still had trouble getting paid: One-third were paid late, and 10% were either paid less than the agreed upon amount or were never paid.
Market Transition and the Deinstitutionalization of Standard Work Hours in Post-Socialist China
Authors: Cao Yang , Rubin Beth A.
Published: June 2015

The authors investigate the relationship between market transition and work hours in urban China. Regression analysis of data from the 2006 Chinese General Social Survey reveals a negative relationship between economic marketization, measured at the province level, and the likelihood that an employee works standard hours. Standard hours are less common among those working for smaller employers, which are less subject to outside scrutiny. This relationship between employer size and standard hours is stronger in more marketized regions. These findings support the authors’ argument that standard work hours are deinstitutionalized as employers strive for low cost and flexibility in China’s increasingly marketized but poorly regulated economy. Comparisons of the Chinese experience with recent trends in the United States reveal remarkable similarities in the weakening of social employment contracts precipitated by the ascendency of markets and the systematic disempowering of labor.
Unpredictable Work Timing in Retail Jobs
Authors: Henly Julia R. , Lambert Susan J.
Published: June 2015

Unpredictability is a distinctive dimension of working time that has been examined primarily in the context of unplanned overtime and in male-dominated occupations. The authors assess the extent to which female employees in low-skilled retail jobs whose work schedules are unpredictable report greater work–life conflict than do their counterparts with more predictable work schedules and whether employee input into work schedules reduces work–life conflict. Data include measures from employee surveys and firm records for a sample of hourly female workers employed across 21 stores of a U.S. women’s apparel retailer. Results demonstrate that, independent of other dimensions of nonstandard work hours, unpredictability is positively associated with three outcomes: general work–life conflict, time-based conflict, and strain-based conflict as measured by perceived employee stress. Employee input into work schedules is negatively related to these outcomes. Little evidence was found that schedule input moderates the association between unpredictable working time and work–life conflict.
How the Perception of Control Influences Unemployed Job Search
Authors: McGee Andrew D.
Published: June 2015

The author considers how locus of control—the degree to which one believes one’s actions influence outcomes—is related to an unemployed person’s job search. He finds evidence that “internal” job seekers (who believe their actions determine outcomes) set higher reservation wages than do their more “external” counterparts (who believe their actions have little effect on outcomes) and weak evidence that internal job seekers search more intensively. Consistent with the assumption that locus of control influences job search through an effect on beliefs about the return to search effort, internal job seekers are no better at converting search effort into job offers and earn no more than their peers upon finding employment.
Statistical Discrimination, Productivity, and the Height of Immigrants
Authors: Wang Shing-Yi
Published: June 2015

Building on the economic research that demonstrates a positive relationship between height and worker ability, the author compares wage returns to height for immigrants and for natives to explore possible explanations for the positive wage–height gradient. Using multiple data sets, the article presents a robust empirical finding that the wage gains associated with height are almost twice as large for immigrants as for native-born individuals. This wage relationship occurs because the productivity gap between tall and short immigrants is greater than the productivity gap between tall and short native-born workers. The author next tests for the possibility that in the relative absence of other sources of information about immigrants, employers place more importance on height for immigrants than for native-born individuals. The evidence does not support the hypothesis of statistical discrimination based on height.
Guestworkers: Lessons from Western Europe
Authors: Martin Philip L. , Miller Mark J.
Published: June 2015

This article appraises the postwar guestworker programs in France, Switzerland, and the Federal Republic of Germany in light of the proposal that a similar program be adopted in the United States. The authors agree that these programs provided significant short-term economic benefits in meeting the labor shortages experienced in Western Europe until recently. These programs also created several serious problems, however, leading the authors to conclude that a large-scale American temporary worker program (1) may reduce but not end illegal immigration; (2) will evolve into a resident, not short-term, worker program; (3) is likely to produce discrimination against migrant workers; (4) will not improve U.S. relations with labor-source countries; and (5) will exacerbate the employment problems of American minorities.
The Labor Market Effects of Immigration
Authors: Johnson George E.
Published: June 2015

This paper is a theoretical examination of the probable effects on the U.S. labor market of a continued high rate of illegal immigration. The author constructs a model to estimate the impact each additional immigrant has on the employment of the domestic population, on GNP, and on the distribution of income. The model suggests that in non-recessionary periods the most important effect of a high rate of immigration is on the wage rates of low-skilled labor rather than on the employment of low-skilled native workers, but immigration also increases the earnings of high-skilled workers and the owners of capital. In the very long run, the author concludes, this redistribution of income will be offset to some extent by increases in the supplies of skilled labor and capital.
The Demise of Airline Strike Insurance
Authors: Unterberger S. Herbert , Koziara Edward C.
Published: June 2015

This article updates the 1975 study by the authors of the use of strike insurance in the airline industry. It presents data on the insurance payments made and received by the member airlines, and on their strike experience, over the entire 1958–78 period during which the Mutual Aid Agreement was in effect. The updated material reinforces the authors' conclusion in their earlier study that the agreement “appears to have provided escalated costs and benefits and longer strikes, but little else.” The authors also explain how and why the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 put an end to the agreement.
The Agency Shop after ABOOD: No Free Ride, but What's the Fare?
Authors: Rehmus Charles M. , Kerner Benjamin A.
Published: June 2015

In Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that nonmembers of public employee unions might constitutionally be required to pay an agency shop or fair share fee to their bargaining representative, provided that such fees are used only to pay for the union's costs of collective bargaining and contract administration and not for its political expenditures. Thus far, seven states have grappled with the problem of attempting to define what kinds of union expenditures fall on one or the other side of this dividing line. This study shows that each state has approached the problem differently, developing varying answers to the procedural and substantive issues involved. The authors argue that these differences arise from the mistaken belief that the two types of union expenditures—political and bargaining—are for fundamentally different purposes and thus different rules should be applied to each. They contend that union-management relations in the public sector are inescapably political and, therefore, at least nonpartisan political expenditures should be charged against all bargaining unit members.
A Note on Union Merger Trends, 1900 – 1978
Authors: Chaison Gary N.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines 143 union mergers that have occurred since the turn of the century, identifying the frequency and forms of mergers (106 absorptions and 37 amalgamations) and the affiliations of merger partners. The data for three broad time periods and for five-year intervals indicate, among other trends, a long-term decline in the proportion of amalgamations and an increase in merger activity since the formation of the AFL-CIO in 1955. The author also discusses the frequency and forms of mergers between affiliates of the AFL, CIO, AFL-CIO, and unaffiliated unions.
Coalition Bargaining in Municipal Government: The New York City Experience
Authors: Lewin David , McCormick Mary
Published: June 2015

This paper analyzes the emergence and development of two-tier coalition bargaining in the municipal government of New York City from the late 1960s through the 1980 negotiations. The reduction of interunion rivalries, growth of pattern bargaining, and enactment of the city's Collective Bargaining Law in 1967 were important precedents to formal coalition bargaining, but it was the fiscal crisis of the mid 1970s that provided a major thrust to the adoption of this type of bargaining structure. Through it, management and union officials were able not only to reach master and subsidiary agreements covering wages and conditions of employment, but to bargain broader fiscal rescue agreements with representatives of the federal and state governments who, in the wake of the fiscal crisis, acquired greater political control over the nation's largest city. The empirical findings are linked to theories of bargaining structure and provide the basis for predicting the continuance of coalition bargaining in New York City during the 1980s but only limited adoption of this bargaining format elsewhere in the American public sector.
Power and Tactics in Bargaining
Authors: Bacharach Samuel B. , Lawler Edward J.
Published: June 2015

This paper develops and tests an analytical framework for analyzing the selection of tactics in bargaining. Using a variant of power-dependence theory, the authors propose that bargainers will use different dimensions of dependence, such as the availability of alternative outcomes from other sources and the value of the outcomes at stake, to select among different tactics. To test this model, the authors conducted two simulation experiments that portrayed an employee-employer conflict over a pay raise, manipulating four dimensions of dependence: employee's outcome alternatives, employee's outcome value, employer's outcome alternatives, and employer's outcome value. Within this context, respondents estimated the likelihood of each actor (employee, employer) adopting four tactics: self-enhancement, coalition, threat to leave, and conflict avoidance. The results of one experiment show that an actor's own dependence, rather than his opponent's dependence on him, is the primary basis for his evaluation and selection of tactics, and also that decisions regarding different tactics are determined by different dimensions of dependence. The results of the other experiment indicate that the opponent's initial tactic affects the links between dimensions of dependence and an actor's tactics, and the dimensions of dependence affect the propensity toward “tactic matching.”
A Quantitative Study of Unfair Labor Practice Cases
Authors: Roomkin Myron
Published: June 2015

The number of charges of unfair labor practices filed with the National Labor Relations Board has grown steadily. This article analyzes the incidence of case filings since 1952 as a function of economic variables, such as the unemployment rate and changes in the price level; the number of strikes and representation petitions filed, since both tend to produce litigation; and aspects of the Board's administrative processes that tend to encourage or discourage case filings, such as the extent of delay. The study finds that, contrary to the assumptions of national labor policy, the Board's activities themselves may be an important determinant of union and employer demands for regulatory intervention. The model proves less satisfactory, however, in explaining the filing behavior of individuals, suggesting that workers have unrealistic expectations about the protection offered them by the National Labor Relations Act.
Bargaining Theory, Inflation, and Cyclical Strike Activity in Manufacturing
Authors: Kaufman Bruce E.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of cyclical movements in strike activity. The first part of the paper develops a bargaining model that demonstrates the crucial role of limited information as a cause of strikes. This model is believed to be an improvement over others because it allows for maximizing behavior on the part of both the union and the firm and it explicitly incorporates the interdependency that exists between the concessions of one side and the demands of the other. The second part of the paper uses this model to show how inflation may cause a systematic cyclical movement in strike activity. This analysis is developed for both the case of rational price expectations and that of adaptive price expectations. In the final section of the paper a series of fourteen hypotheses, developed either from the author's model or from previous studies, is tested through a regression analysis of strike data for American manufacturing over the 1954–75 period. The results show, among other things, that inflation has been responsible for much of the increase in strike rates experienced in manufacturing in the 1970s.
Distributional Equity in the Unemployment Insurance System
Authors: Hutchens Robert
Published: June 2015

This study examines the distribution of unemployment insurance benefits across income classes. The new data presented here support previous claims that a large share of unemployment insurance benefits flow to middle- and upper-income groups. The data also show, however, that earlier studies underestimated the extent to which lower income groups benefit from the program. In addition, the paper investigates whether the household survey data used in studies such as this are so flawed by reporting errors that they yield biased results. The author concludes that such errors have only a minimal effect. The paper closes with an analysis of why upper income groups receive a relatively large share of unemployment insurance benefits.
Scale Economies in Private Multi-Employer Pension Systems
Authors: Mitchell Olivia S. , Andrews Emily S.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the efficiency of pension plan operations in the private sector, focusing on the relationship between plan size and administrative expenses of pension fund management. The authors estimate cost equations for multi-employer, defined benefit plans with funds held totally by a trust, using data from a stratified sample of plan reports for 1975 filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Equations are estimated for individual industries and for the private sector as a whole. In all cases economies of scale in plan administration are evident, suggesting that policymakers should investigate measures to encourage plan consolidation in the private sector and perhaps in the public sector as well.
Challenging the Taylor Law: Prison Guards on Strike
Authors: Zimmer Lynn , Jacobs James B.
Published: June 2015

In analyzing the 1979 strike by nearly all of the prison guards in New York State, this paper focuses on the social organization of the prison environment and the guards' changing occupational role as critical causes of the strike. Many guards believe that in recent years they have lost status and much of their authority; in addition, racial tension has mounted within the guard force as well as between guards and inmates. The authors argue that collective bargaining is not well suited to resolving those problems, and in fact the bargaining system may have aggravated them. The authors also analyze the strike's resolution, concluding that it was the state's use of National Guard troops and the application of Taylor Law sanctions, rather than any bargaining strategy by either party, that brought the guards back to work. Finally, the authors suggest that these strike penalties may have intensified the worker anger and discontent that were major causes of the strike.
The Changing Skill Requirements of Jobs in the U.S. Economy
Authors: Rumberger Russell W.
Published: June 2015

Changes in the aggregate distribution of job skills result from changes in the distribution of employment among occupations as well as from changes in the skill requirements of individual occupations. This study measures the effects of both of these factors on the distribution of skills in the U.S. economy between 1960 and 1976. Skill changes in individual occupations are measured with data from the two most recent editions of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles on the general skill requirements of all individual jobs. The analysis reveals that between 1960 and 1976 changes in the distribution of employment have favored more skilled jobs, while changes in the skill requirements of individual occupations have tended to narrow the distribution of job skills. Overall the average skill requirements of jobs increased in this period, but at a slower rate than in earlier periods.
Labor Supply Adjustment over the Business Cycle
Authors: Larson Donald A.
Published: June 2015

This study extends one by Kalachek, Raines, and Larson (in the April 1979 Review) of the speed with which labor supply adjusts to changes in demand. The present study uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics that permit a more precise appraisal of whether the speed of supply response varies over the business cycle. Analysis of data for the period 1972–76, during which a severe recession occurred, shows, as predicted, that as unemployment increases workers are less able to adjust their hours of work in response to changes in their health, wages, and other factors that determine desired work levels. The author also finds, however, that the more rapid response of supply in the recovery phase makes peak-to-peak adjustment relatively complete.
Discouraged Workers and Economic Fluctuations
Authors: Finegan T. Aldrich
Published: June 2015

This article examines recent trends and cyclical changes in the number of discouraged workers and other persons outside the labor force who report wanting regular jobs. Both the incidence of discouragement and its sensitivity to labor market conditions vary widely across demographic groups. The number of persons discouraged for job-market reasons has shown marked cyclical swings, but not the number discouraged for personal reasons. The findings illumine one of the social costs of a slack economy and are relevant to the continuing controversy over the classification of discouraged workers as not in the labor force. The author also shows that recent pro-cyclical swings in the size of the labor force are much larger than can be accounted for by the entry and withdrawal of discouraged workers. He suggests that many persons who decide to enter the labor force when unemployment is low are not reported as discouraged workers—or even as wanting jobs—when unemployment is high.
The School-to-Work Transition of College Graduates
Authors: Fiorito Jack
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the relationship between curriculum choice and occupational choice. The lag between curriculum choice and degree attainment generally ensures a mismatch between new labor supply and employer requirements, even if students are quite responsive to labor market conditions. The author hypothesizes that adjustment to that lag is primarily a function of market conditions and the technical compatibility of possible combinations of college majors and occupations. He tests his model with NSF data on two recent cohorts of male baccalaureate recipients, which are used to calculate the probability that a student in a given major obtains a first job in a related occupation. The author's model explains a large proportion of the differences in that probability across majors and occupations.
Forecasting the Effects of a Negative Income Tax Program
Authors: Johnson Terry R. , Pencavel John H.
Published: June 2015

This paper outlines a scheme that forecasts the change in net earnings or in hours worked that results from the introduction of a negative income tax (NIT) program. The authors illustrate this scheme by estimating labor supply functions for married men, married women, and single women who participated in the Seattle-Denver Income Maintenance Experiments. These functions are then used to simulate the effects of several NIT programs. The findings suggest that changes in the wage rate of an individual covered by an NIT program result in important changes in the hours of work of the individual's spouse.
Wellington-Winter Revisited: The Case of Municipal Sanitation Collection
Authors: Edwards Linda N. , Edwards Franklin R.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the hypothesis advanced by Wellington and Winter that public sector unions have greater power than private sector unions to raise wages. To test this hypothesis the authors use a unique body of 1974 data on several aspects of residential solid waste collection in 175 cities, 95 with public collection systems and 80 with private systems. In both groups of cities some work forces are unionized and some are not. The authors' analysis shows that unionization raises the wages of sanitation workers in the public sector by considerably more than it raises the wages of such workers in the private sector, thus providing strong support for the Wellington-Winter thesis.
UI-Assisted Worksharing as an Alternative to Layoffs: The Canadian Experience
Authors: Reid Frank
Published: June 2015

This study describes and analyzes an experimental program established in Canada in 1977 under which layoffs were avoided in twenty-four firms by reducing the hours worked of all employees and taking advantage of a temporary modification of unemployment insurance legislation that allowed workers to receive UI benefits for the day or so each week that they no longer worked. Employees generally favored the plan because, in the typical case of a 20 percent work reduction, they received an extra day of leisure per week while experiencing only a 5 percent reduction in after-tax income. Most employers also favored the plan because they avoided several costs of layoffs, such as the cost of hiring and training replacements for laid-off workers who do not respond to recall. For various reasons the federal government did not continue the program when the experiment ended in 1979, but in January 1982 the government again implemented the program on a temporary basis. The author argues that UI-assisted worksharing is more efficient and more equitable because it can greatly reduce the distributional inequities of unemployment.
Teachers, Unions, and Wages in the 1970s: Unionism Now Pays
Authors: Baugh William H. , Stone Joe A.
Published: June 2015

This paper provides evidence that confirms the results of previous studies that teacher unionism produced relatively small wage gains during the early 1970s, but it also shows that union gains increased substantially in the late 1970s. The evidence is based on an application of two complementary research designs—cross-section wage-level regressions and cross-section wage-change regressions—to national samples of teacher data for 1974–75 and 1977–78. The authors conclude that the union/nonunion wage differential among teachers reached 12 to 22 percent by the late 1970s, and during the period 1974–78 the real wages of unionized teachers increased while those of nonunionized teachers declined. They offer several possible explanations for these trends.
The Determinants of Strikes in the United States, 1900–1977
Authors: Kaufman Bruce E.
Published: June 2015

This study aims to assess the recent debate that has emerged in the literature over the “economic” and “organizational-political” models of strikes and to propose and test a synthesis of those models as an explanation for the pattern of strike activity in the United States since 1900. The paper begins with a review of strike activity in the post-1900 period and then develops a conceptual framework incorporating six factors—the size of union membership, economic conditions, political events, institutional arrangements, psychological variables, and the extent of rival unionism—to explain this historical pattern. The second part of the paper contains a regression analysis of strike activity over the 1900–1977 period. The regression results show that both the economic factors of unemployment and inflation and various noneconomic factors, such as changes in union membership, the outbreak of World War II, and enactment of New Deal legislation, are significant in explaining variations in strike activity during the period studied. The results also show that economic and noneconomic factors have worked together to cause a marked reduction in the variation in strike activity in the post-1948 period.
Traditional or Reverse Sex Discrimination? A Case Study of a Large Public University
Authors: Ferber Marianne A. , Green Carole A.
Published: June 2015

This study assesses the extent and causes of recent sex discrimination in academic positions at a large public university. Performing multiple regression analysis on data for all individuals hired for full-time faculty positions during the academic years 1975–76 through 1978–79 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the authors find that women are paid less ($2,200 less, on average) than men when such usual criteria as highest degree, experience, number of publications, honors, and field are held constant. They find no evidence that this gap closes over time. Using multiple probit analysis, the authors find, in addition, that women are less likely to be hired in tenure-track positions. Then, using discriminant analysis as an alternate method, they find that articles published is the largest contributing factor to high academic rank, but that sex is also a significant factor. The authors conclude that, despite suspicions to the contrary, their evidence shows no effective affirmative action in faculty employment.
The Relation between Vocational Training in High School and Economic Outcomes
Authors: Gustman Alan L. , Steinmeier Thomas L.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the relationships between various economic outcomes and vocational training in high school for those who have completed exactly twelve years of schooling. The authors attempt to determine whether the findings remain robust when different surveys and time periods of analysis, different measures of the quality and kind of vocational training, and other variations in specifications are used.

Using some samples with particular specifications, the authors find evidence of positive returns to vocational schooling. For white females enrolled in business programs the evidence is strongest. For white males the evidence is much weaker, but the authors do find that trade and industry courses may have a positive influence on subsequent yearly earnings. Sample sizes for minorities are small, and so the findings for them remain unclear. Within specific sex and race groups the findings vary, sometimes widely, depending on the samples, time periods, and dependent variables used and on the specification of the estimating equation.
Unions and Productivity in the Public Sector: A Study of Municipal Libraries
Authors: Ehrenberg Ronald G. , Sherman Daniel R. , Schwarz Joshua L.
Published: June 2015

This paper develops and illustrates the use of two methodologies to analyze the effect of unions on productivity in the public sector. Although the methodologies are applicable to a wide variety of public sector functions, the focus of the paper is on municipal libraries because of the availability of relevant data. The empirical analysis, which uses 1977 cross-section data on 260 libraries, suggests that collective bargaining coverage has not significantly affected productivity in municipal libraries.
Union Bargaining Power in the Coal Industry, 1945–1981
Authors: Navarro Peter
Published: June 2015

In examining the bargaining record of the coal industry since the mid-19405, this paper demonstrates that union power in this industry has fluctuated considerably over the years and then describes the reasons for that fluctuation. The author argues that the level of coal consumption has had a consistently strong effect on the balance of bargaining power throughout the postwar period and that industry profits have also influenced settlements, but to a lesser extent. In recent negotiations, the most important power factor has been the sharp decline in the percentage of coal produced by mines covered by UMW contracts. In addition, not only has pre-strike stockpiling by major consumers blunted the union's strike weapon, but also the weakness of union leadership in recent years has helped to precipitate and prolong strikes. Only the evidence on the union's democratic contract ratification procedure, adopted in 1973, is mixed: although providing a slight strategic advantage to the union on occasion, it has also led to confusion at the bargaining table and contributed to the weakness of the leadership. The author also illustrates the importance of including rule changes in measuring union power.
The Wage Effect of Compulsory Union Membership
Authors: Christensen Sandra , Maki Dennis
Published: June 2015

This study assesses the wage effect of compulsory membership clauses in union contracts. Previous industry-level studies of union wage effects have used contract coverage as the measure of unionization, that is, the proportion of workers in an industry, both members and nonmembers of unions, who are covered by collective agreements. In the wage equation estimated here, union coverage is disaggregated into its membership and covered-nonmember components. Results for a sample of 54 three-digit manufacturing industries indicate that compulsory membership clauses do enable unions to negotiate significantly greater wage increases. Results from a sample of 21 two-digit industries, however, offer less clear-cut evidence of the wage gains to be had from compulsory union membership.
Strikes, Arbitration, and Teacher Salaries: A Behavioral Analysis
Authors: Delaney John Thomas
Published: June 2015

This study uses Bacharach and Lawler's behavioral theory of bargaining to derive hypotheses about the impact of strikes and compulsory interest arbitration on teacher salaries. Those hypotheses are tested with data sets on Illinois and Iowa school districts and on a national sample of teachers drawn from the Current Population Survey. The results suggest that strike use affects teacher salaries but that arbitration use does not. Additional tests indicate that the availability of both arbitration and of the legal or de facto right to strike has similar effects on salary levels, increasing salaries by about 10 percent. The findings also suggest that arbitration and the strike are used as defensive rather than offensive strategies.
Output and Strike Activity in U.S. Manufacturing: How Large are the Losses?
Authors: Neumann George R. , Reder Melvin W.
Published: June 2015

This study analyzes the relationship between strike activity and output among disaggregated manufacturing industries. A major finding is that in many manufacturing industries, strikes have no discernible effect on industry output. Even when strikes are found to have a statistically significant effect on output, the net loss of output appears to be small. Overall, the evidence suggests that the ability of nonstruck firms to increase their output, and of struck firms to draw on inventories, makes it highly unlikely that strikes in manufacturing will cause a national emergency.
Union Effects on Teacher Productivity
Authors: Eberts Randall W.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the effect of collective bargaining on several factors known to be determinants of student achievement in the public schools, particularly its effect on the teacher's allocation of time among various activities. Estimates based on a national survey show that bargaining appears to reduce time spent in instruction, to increase the level of education of teachers, and to increase the number of administrators — all differences associated with lower student achievement. On the other hand, bargaining tends to increase the time teachers spend in class preparation, the experience level of teachers, and the teacher-student ratio — differences associated with higher student achievement. The net effect of collective bargaining on teacher productivity is therefore not clear at this time.
Western Miners and Silicosis: “The Scourge of the Underground Toiler,” 1890–1943
Authors: Foster James C.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the history of silicosis in the mines of the western United States between 1890 and 1943. After establishing the seriousness of the health threat posed by the disease, the author describes the methods of prevention known to be effective during that period, the slow pace at which mine operators adopted those methods, and their campaign to defeat silicosis-compensation legislation in one western state, Arizona. Also described is the surprisingly passive role played in this controversy by the Western Federation of Miners. Finally, the author finds some empirical evidence of the Kerr-Siegel hypothesis, namely, silicosis may have been a “mass grievance” that helps to explain the violent labor history of the mining West.
Partial Retirement and the Analysis of Retirement Behavior
Authors: Gustman Alan L. , Steinmeier Thomas L.
Published: June 2015

The authors estimate a retirement equation with multiple outcome categories to show, first, that self-reported partial retirement is relatively common among white males aged 58 to 69, particularly partial retirement into a job different from the full-time job held at age 55, and that pattern holds even for those not facing mandatory retirement, not unhealthy, and not influenced by pension policies. Second, results from retirement equations specified with dichotomous dependent variables are shown to be sensitive to whether the partially retired are categorized as retired or not retired.
A Tale of Employment Decline in Two Cities: How Bad Was the Worst of Times?
Authors: Jacobson Louis
Published: June 2015

This paper describes the communitywide effects on employment, earnings, and labor mobility of the severe employment declines that occurred in major industries in the Buffalo, New York and Providence, Rhode Island SMSAs in the period 1960 – 70. The author analyzes the work histories, drawn from longitudinal Social Security Administration data files, of about 20,000 men with job experience in those years and SMSAs. A major finding is that voluntary separations exceeded employment reductions in nearly all industries, indicating that, contrary to popular belief, relatively few workers in those cities were forced out of their jobs. In addition, the workers studied were very mobile; about one-third of job changers migrated out of their original SMSA, and many changers moved into different industries. Some workers who lost their jobs suffered severe earnings loss, but the total earnings loss was not particularly large. The author discusses the policy implications of those findings.
Wage Differentials among Black, Hispanic, and White Young Men
Authors: Shapiro David
Published: June 2015

This paper uses the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Labor Market Experience to examine whether, as Freeman has contended, wage differentials based on race have largely vanished from the labor market for young men. The evidence indicates that there is still a significant black-white difference in hourly wage rates among young men not enrolled in school, but not among students. Hispanic-white wage differences are not significant among either students or nonstudents. The author also shows that longer job tenure contributes to significantly higher wage rates among white nonstudents, but not among black nonstudents, and the wage premium of whites over blacks among nonstudents increases substantially when sample-selection bias is taken into account.
The Effect of Gender and Race Differentials on Public-Private Wage Comparisons: A Study of Postal Workers
Authors: Asher Martin , Popkin Joel
Published: June 2015

This study argues that the aggregative specifications often used to examine wage diferentials fail to control for important demographic variations in wage patterns. In testing how postal wages compare to wages in the private sector, the authors therefore introduce interaction terms to control for gender and race differentials by industry. Their analysis of data from the May 1979 Current Population Survey indicates that average wages are higher in the Postal Service than in many private sector industries because the Postal Service pays nonwhites and women wages similar to those it pays comparable white men, whereas gender and race differentials are common in the private sector. The findings also indicate that the postal wage for white men is about the same as the average wage paid to comparable white men in other sectors of the economy, a relationship that the authors argue should be the key criterion for wage comparability in any public agency that follows a nondiscriminatory wage policy.
Statistical Methods for Analyzing Claims of Employment Discrimination
Authors: Gastwirth Joseph L.
Published: June 2015

This paper shows that in several recent EEO cases, lawyers and the courts have not used as powerful a statistical test of discrimination as they could have. The author describes two methods for combining into a single measure the results of statistical analysis of each of several data sets common in EEO cases, such as the hiring or promotion rates of minorities and majorities in each of several occupations in a company. He argues that these methods—combining one-sample binomial tests and the Mantel-Haenszel procedure—are more appropriate and usually more powerful than other tests of significance, such as Fisher's, that have been used in many EEO cases. He illustrates his argument with data from several of those cases.
The Scope of Bargaining and Bargaining Outcomes in the Public Schools
Authors: Woodbury Stephen A.
Published: June 2015

This study examines state-to-state variations in the legality of bargaining over class size in public schools, to determine, first, whether these variations in the legal scope of bargaining bear any relationship to actual class sizes and, second, whether these variations are indirectly associated with teachers' salaries. Using a model of the quality of education to analyze data from the 1977 Census of Governments on 4,851 independent school districts, the author concludes that restrictions on class-size bargaining are associated with both larger student-teacher ratios and higher teachers' salaries. He also finds that the availability of voluntary arbitration and the limited right to strike are related to lower student-teacher ratios.