American Sociological Association study
Union decline accounts for much of the rise in wage inequality
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Union
membership in America has declined
significantly since the early 1970s,
and that plunge explains approxi-
mately a fifth of the increase in hourly
wage inequality among women and
about a third among men, according
to a new study in the August issue of
the American Sociological Review.
“Our study underscores the role of
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unions as an equalizing force in the la-
bor market,” said study author Bruce
Western, a professor of sociology at
Harvard University. “Most researchers
studying wage inequality have fo-
cused on the effects of educational
stratification — pay differences based
on level of education — and have
generally under-emphasized the im-
pact of unions.”
From 1973 to 2007, wage inequal-
ity in the private sector increased by
more than 40 percent among men, and
by about 50 percent among women. In
their study, Western and co-author
Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociol-
ogy at the University of Washington,
examine the effects of union decline
on both “between-group” inequality
and “within-group” inequality.
Between-group compares people
from different demographics and in-
dustries, while within-group looks at
people from the same demographics
and industries.
Focusing on full-time, private sec-
tor workers, Western and Rosenfeld
found that de-unionization — the de-
cline in the percentage of the labor
force that is unionized — and educa-
tional stratification each explain about
33 percent of the rise in “within-
group” wage inequality among men.
Among women, de-unionization ex-
plains about 20 percent of the increase
in wage inequality, whereas education
explains more than 40 percent.
Part of the reason for this gender
discrepancy is that men have experi-
enced a much larger decline in private
sector union membership — from 34
percent in 1973 to 8 percent in 2007
— than women (who went from 16
percent to 6 percent during the same
period).
“For generations, unions were the
core institution advocating for more
equitable wage distribution,” said
Rosenfeld. “Today, when unions — at
least in the private sector — have
largely disappeared, that means that
this voice for equity has faded dramat-
ically. People now have very different
ideas about what’s acceptable in terms
of pay distribution.”
The study finds that union decline
explains little of the rise in “between-
group” inequality.
“Unions standardize wages so that
people with similar characteristics —
if they’re union members — tend to
have similar wages,” Western said.
“So, it makes sense that de-unioniza-
tion has little impact on between-
group inequality, which, by definition,
exists between groups of people that
are different.”
While the purpose of unions is to
standardize wages for their members,
Western and Rosenfeld find that even
nonunion workers, if they’re in highly
unionized industries, tend to have
fairly equal wages, partly because
nonunion employers will raise wages
to the union level to discourage union-
ization.
In terms of policy implications,
Western and Rosenfeld think their
study could help reignite the dialogue
on labor unions, which they believe
has disappeared from economic de-
bates in recent years.
“In the early 1970s, unions were
important for delivering middle class
incomes to working-class families,
and they enlivened politics by speak-
ing out against inequality,” said West-
ern. “These days, there just aren’t big
institutional actors who are making
the case for greater economic equality
in America.”
The study relies on data from the
Current Population Survey (CPS)
from 1973 to 2007. A monthly survey
conducted by the Bureau of Census,
the CPS provides data from about
60,000 U.S. households representative
of the U.S. population as a whole.
For a copy of the full study, contact
Daniel Fowler, American Sociological
Association, 202-527-7885, or by e-
mail at pubinfo@asanet.org.
IKEA workers vote to join Machinists
In a 221-69 vote, workers at the IKEA plant in Danville, Va., voted July 27 to
join the Machinists Union (IAM). The 318 employees assemble products for
IKEA.
The workers, the IAM and the global union federation Builders and Wood-
workers International (BWI) launched a campaign in December to highlight what
they say are labor and human rights abuses in the Danville plant.
According to the workers, the issues at Ikea include dangerous working con-
ditions, forced overtime, discriminatory work practices, high injury rates, dis-
charge of union supporters, and harassment of union organizers.
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