Trade unions and the well‐being of workers

Abstract

Using data on nearly 2 million respondents from the United States and Europe, we show the partial correlation between union membership and employee job satisfaction is positive and statistically significant. This runs counter to findings in the seminal work of Freeman and Borjas in the 1970s. For the United States, we show the association between union membership and job satisfaction switched from negative to positive in the 2000s. Cohorts with positive union effects over time come to dominate those with negative effects. The negative association between membership and job satisfaction is apparent in cohorts born before the 1960s but turns positive for those born between the 1960s and 1990s. Analyses for Europe since the 2000s confirm the positive association between union membership and worker well‐being is apparent elsewhere. Panel estimates for the United Kingdom also find a positive relation between union membership and job satisfaction. A positive union association with other aspects of worker well‐being including life satisfaction, happiness and trust is apparent in cross‐sectional data for Europe. Union members are also less likely to be stressed, worried, depressed, sad or lonely. The findings have important implications for our understanding of trade unionism.

Job satisfaction and trade union membership in Germany

“…Using this cut-off, Panel (B) in Accordingly, our results suggest that it is less likely to observe a negative correlation between union membership and job satisfaction for younger people, but the association does not turn positive in Germany. These findings are to some extent consistent with those reported by , Bryson (2020), andBlanchflower et al (2022) who document a negative relationship between union membership and job satisfaction for older individuals in the US and the UK, and a positive one in later years without accounting for the endeogeneity of the union membership.…”

“…Empirical investigations for other countries generate a somewhat different picture. While positive correlations are rare (see Donegani and McKay, 2012;van der Meer, 2019;Blanchflower et al, 2022), more often insignificant effects are observed (García-Serrano, 2009Hipp and Givan, 2015;Hauret and Williams, 2017;Lightman and Kevins, 2019). Furthermore, a possible change in the direction of the correlation from negative to positive, as Blanchflower et al (2022) find in the last two decades and for later birth cohorts in the US and the UK, has not been diagnosed for other countries.…”

“…While positive correlations are rare (see Donegani and McKay, 2012;van der Meer, 2019;Blanchflower et al, 2022), more often insignificant effects are observed (García-Serrano, 2009Hipp and Givan, 2015;Hauret and Williams, 2017;Lightman and Kevins, 2019). Furthermore, a possible change in the direction of the correlation from negative to positive, as Blanchflower et al (2022) find in the last two decades and for later birth cohorts in the US and the UK, has not been diagnosed for other countries. 2 It is noteworthy that cross-sectional analyses for Germany either represent a by-product of an investigation with a different focus or only provide indicative evidence.…”

“…A similar line of argument may apply to working time, if trade unions primarily act on behalf of full-time employees. Finally, Blanchflower and Bryson (2020), Blanchflower et al (2022), and argue that the relationship under investigation may be different for younger individuals and may have changed in recent years. Therefore, in this section, we present results from according subgroup analyses in Table 5, based on OLS, FE, 2SLS, and IVFE estimates.…”

“…A partial exception isBlanchflower et al (2022) who use three waves of the European Social Surveys and report a positive correlation for a sample of 38 countries. However, they do not provide country-specific findings.…”