Pré-Publication, Document De Travail (Working Paper) Année : 2025

What Do (Thousands of) Unions Do ? Union-Specific Pay Premia and Inequality

Résumé

We study the role of union heterogeneity in shaping wages and inequality among unionized workers. Using linked employer-employee data from Brazil and job moves across multi-firm unions, we estimate over 4,800 union-specific pay premia. Unions explain 3-4% of earnings variation. While unions raise wages on average, the standard deviation in union effects is large (6-7%). Validating our approach, wages fall in markets with higher vs. lower union premia following a nationwide right-to-work law. Linking premia to detailed data on union attributes, we find that unions with strike activity, collective bargaining agreements, internal competition, and skilled leaders secure higher wages. High-premium unions compress wage gaps by education while the average union exacerbates them. Post right-to-work, however, worker support for high-premium unions falls when between-group bargaining differentials are large. Our findings show that unions are not a monolith-their structure and actions shape their wage effects and, consequently, worker support.

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hal-05221815 , version 1 (25-08-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-05221815 , version 1

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Ellora Derenoncourt, François Gerard, Lorenzo Lagos, Claire Montialoux. What Do (Thousands of) Unions Do ? Union-Specific Pay Premia and Inequality. 2025. ⟨hal-05221815⟩
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