Public transit wage rates: pre-Reagan and Reagan-Bush eras
Article Abstract:
This paper examines the earnings of public transit bus drivers for both the pre-Reagan and Reagan-Bush eras using Current Population Survey data. The findings show union drivers were consistently paid a significant wage premium over nonunion drivers, a premium which also exceeded that for unionized private nontransport operatives - suggesting that special institutional features of the public transit industry have collectively conferred market power on unionized public transit workers. During the Reagan years, the earnings of public transit drivers, union and nonunion alike, rose relative to those of private and public nontransport operatives in spite of federally-spearheaded cost containment policies. In 1990, these earnings fell relative to those of private and public nontransport operatives, suggesting that the effects of these policies may be beginning to be felt. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Labor Research
Subject: Human resources and labor relations
ISSN: 0195-3613
Year: 1995
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Have unions impeded growing wage dispersion among young workers?
Article Abstract:
Wage inequality is examined for young males over the period 1980-1993. While wage inequality increased substantially for nonunion workers over this period, wage inequality increased only modestly for union workers. In part, this difference results from divergent trends in skill prices - returns to skill rose in the nonunion sector but contracted slightly in the union sector. In particular, returns to education increased sharply in the nonunion sector while remaining stagnant in the union sector. At least for young workers, these findings suggest that unions have been largely successful in resisting market pressures for greater wage inequality. We also uncover evidence suggesting that, as relative returns to education decline in the union sector, highly educated young workers become less likely to choose union employment. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Labor Research
Subject: Human resources and labor relations
ISSN: 0195-3613
Year: 1997
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Unit costs, legal shocks, and unionization in construction
Article Abstract:
I develop an econometric model to examine three potential causes of the decline of unionization in the construction industry in the 1970s and 1980s: increased cost relative to the open shop, reduced coverage by prevailing wage laws, and expanded double-breasting in response to NLRB decisions. The results show that relative cost was the decisive factor in the 1970s, whereas double-breasting was the most plausible explanation in the 1980s. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Labor Research
Subject: Human resources and labor relations
ISSN: 0195-3613
Year: 1995
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