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A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute has found that the decline in union membership in the US has eroded the wages of non-union members. Between 1979 and 2013, the share of private-sector workers in a union has decreased from 34% to 11% among men and from 16% to 6% among women. Men in the private-sector without a degree have been hit the hardest by union decline. For non-union men working in the private sector, weekly wages would be an estimated 5% higher in 2013 if union density had remained the same as in 1979. This translates as an annual wage loss of $2,704 for a full-time employee.
Unions maintain wages for non-union workers through agreements which set wage standards. A strong union presence prompts employers to keep their wages competitive to prevent their employees leaving for union jobs.
John T. Addison writes in his article that in the UK, the US, and Canada, unions tend to reduce inequality in all three countries among male workers, whose union coverage tends to be concentrated in the middle of the skill distribution and whose wages tend to be compressed relative to those non-union workers.
In his article on union wage effects, Alex Bryson says. “Without unions bargaining successfully to raise worker wages, income inequality would almost certainly be higher than it is.”
For further analysis of trade unions and the labor market:
Read more about trade unions, collective bargaining, and the labor market.
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