Union Density, Productivity and Wages

45 Pages Posted: 13 Nov 2017 Last revised: 16 Apr 2023

See all articles by Erling Barth

Erling Barth

Institute for Social Research, Norway; Department of Economics, University of Oslo; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Alex Bryson

UCL ; National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)

Harald Dale-Olsen

Institute for Social Research

Abstract

We exploit tax-induced exogenous variance in the price of union membership to identify the effects of changes in firm union density on firm productivity and wages in the population of Norwegian firms over the period 2001 to 2012. Increases in union density lead to substantial increases in firm productivity and wages having accounted for the potential endogeneity of unionization. The wage effect is larger in more productive firms, consistent with rent-sharing models.

Keywords: trade unions, union density, productivity, wages

JEL Classification: J01, J08, J50, J51

Suggested Citation

Barth, Erling and Bryson, Alex and Dale-Olsen, Harald, Union Density, Productivity and Wages. IZA Discussion Paper No. 11111, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3069454 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3069454

Erling Barth (Contact Author)

Institute for Social Research, Norway ( email )

Munthesgate 31
0260 Oslo
Norway

Department of Economics, University of Oslo ( email )

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Alex Bryson

UCL ( email )

20 Bedford Way
London, WC1H 0AL
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=ABRYS65

National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) ( email )

2 Dean Trench Street
Smith Square
London, SW1P 3HE
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.niesr.ac.uk/staff/staffdetail.php?StaffID=307

Harald Dale-Olsen

Institute for Social Research ( email )

Munthesgate 31
0260 Oslo
Norway

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
380
Abstract Views
1,848
Rank
143,140
PlumX Metrics