PUBLIC strongSECTORstrong EARNINGS AND THE EXTENT OF UNIONIZATION.pdfVIP

PUBLIC SECTOR EARNINGS AND THE EXTENT OF UNIONIZATION DALE BELMAN, J O H N S. HEYWOOD, and JOHN LUND* Many studies have examined the influence of union density (union members as a percentage of all workers) on earnings in the private sector, but few such studies have looked at the public sector. Using data from the 1991 Current Population Survey, this study estimates the determinants of earnings for state and local government employees in both the union and nonunion sectors. The extent of public sector unionization appears to be positively correlated with earnings for both state and local government workers and for those covered and not covered by collective agreements. Although the effect for non-covered employees is smaller than that for covered employees, both effects are larger than those typically found in similar estimates for the private sector. The authors also find that bargaining structure has some influ- ence on earnings, with the most consistent effect being a positive influence of arbitration on the earnings of local government workers. he rise of public sector unionism has different dispute resolution procedures on Tgenerated an enormous volume of re- earnings; and other studies examine the search on the theoretical and empirical role played by public sector unionism in relationships among bargaining laws, union determining public sector employment lev- membership, public sector employment, els. a