Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Western Germany: Evidence from Micro Data, 1980-2000

26 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2003

See all articles by Claus Schnabel

Claus Schnabel

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Joachim Wagner

University of Lueneburg - Institute of Economics; Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: January 2003

Abstract

An empirical analysis of various waves of the ALLBUS social survey shows that union density fell substantially in West Germany from 1980 to 2000. Such a negative trend can be observed for men and women and for different groups of the workforce. Repeated crosssectional analyses suggest that a number of personal, occupational and attitudinal variables such as sex, occupational status, firm size and political orientation play a role in the unionization process, although the influence of many variables is not robust over time. While the results are consistent with cost-benefit considerations on the sides of employees and unions, individualization theory and social custom theory is not consistently supported by our estimations.

Keywords: Trade Union Membership, Germany, Micro Data

JEL Classification: J51

Suggested Citation

Schnabel, Claus and Wagner, Joachim, Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Western Germany: Evidence from Micro Data, 1980-2000 (January 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=385124 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.385124

Claus Schnabel

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg ( email )

Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
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HOME PAGE: http://https://www.arbeitsmarkt.rw.fau.de/english-version/staff/prof-dr-claus-schnabel/

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Germany

Joachim Wagner (Contact Author)

University of Lueneburg - Institute of Economics ( email )

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Germany
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+49 4131 677 2026 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.uni-lueneburg.de/wifo

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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