2002/10/01 by Bernt Bratsberg, James F. Ragan · 69 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Deregulation #Economics #Labor Movements and Unions #Labour economics #Macroeconomics #Merger and Competition Analysis #Transport and Economic Policies #Wage
paper · doi:10.1177/001979390205600104
published in Industrial and Labor Relations Review 56(1), 65-83 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2002/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Relying on CPS data, the authors estimate the union wage premium—the amount by which wages of union workers exceeded those of nonunion workers in the same industry conditional on worker characteristics—for 32 industries over the period 1971–99. The dispersion of union premiums across industries narrowed over time as high premiums tended to fall and low premiums to rise. At the aggregate level, the premium drifted lower. When the authors model the union premium as a function of cyclical and structural variables and unmeasured industry characteristics, they find that Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) clauses reduced the responsiveness of the union premium to economic conditions and that increases in import penetration were strongly associated with rising union premiums. The effect of deregulation was mixed.