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Title: The State of Unions in America
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2017
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Abstract: Union membership among employees of private industry in the United States has steadily declined since World War II. Less than 8% of full time employed workers in private industry are represented by a union. Union representation among government employees has remained relatively constant over this period at levels ranging from 32 - 46%. The decline in union membership in private industry is partially due to the fact that the group Unions help the most -- lower paid employees with less education -- have seen substantial competition from automation and less expensive labor overseas. Historically, union membership has not provided higher wages for more educated workers. That has hindered union growth. In addition, government has taken on some of unions' traditional roles by mandating minimum wages, overtime and employee benefits. Unions remain strong in sectors that face less competition from automation or offshoring. Employees in those sectors include airline pilots, nurses, janitorial workers, policemen, firemen, utility employees and government workers. Government union employees have been able to obtain more meaningful wage premiums than union workers in private industry. More importantly (and not easily measured), government employees receive a substantial deferred compensation premium primarily in the form of pension benefits. The attractiveness of their compensation package is reflected in government employees unusually low voluntary leave rate compared to private industry. Taxpayers may not have been fully aware of the difficulty of funding future deferred compensation liabilities. Hiding government costs from taxpayers is predicted by some economic models that analyze how politicians compete for votes. However public focus on the magnitude of government deferred pensions is growing as union pension and other benefit costs have begun to force cuts in the operating components of state and local budgets.
Url: https://disciplinedthinking.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-state-of-unions-in-america.html
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Authors: Whelan, Hugh
Publisher: Disciplined Thinking
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure
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