Unionization and wages: a quantile analysis

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the wage effects of unionization in a sample of the Brazilian population in 2015. Using data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) and its supplement on labour relations and unionization, econometric techniques (ordinary least squares, propensity score matching and unconditional quantile regressions) are used to test the hypotheses that being unionized affects wages, and whether there is an additional benefit in the case of unions that participate more actively with their members. The results show that there is a positive relationship between unionization and average wages. It was also found that an increase in total unionization seems to reduce the pay of workers at the lower end of the distribution, but raise wages for the majority of the population. In addition, unions that participated in an agreement in the last 365 days generated average gains of 4.3%.