When unionization disappears: state-level unionization and working poverty in the U.S.

"Although the working poor are a much larger population than the unemployed poor, American poverty research has devoted much more attention to joblessness than to working poverty. Research that does exist on working poverty concentrates on demographics and economic performance and neglects inst...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Brady, David, Baker, Regina, Finnigan, Ryan
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Luxembourg 2013
LIS
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19126966124919441489-When-unionization-disappears-s.htm
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author Brady, David
Baker, Regina
Finnigan, Ryan
author_facet Brady, David
Baker, Regina
Finnigan, Ryan
collection Library items
description "Although the working poor are a much larger population than the unemployed poor, American poverty research has devoted much more attention to joblessness than to working poverty. Research that does exist on working poverty concentrates on demographics and economic performance and neglects institutions. Building on literatures on comparative institutions, unionization, and states as polities, we examine the influence of a potentially important labor market institution for working poverty: the level of unionization in a state. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) for the U.S., we estimate: a) multi-level logit models of poverty among employed households in 2010; and b) two-way fixed effects models of working poverty across seven waves of data from 1991 to 2010. Further, we replicate the analyses with the Current Population Survey while controlling for household unionization, and assess unionization’s potential influence on selection into employment. Across all models, state-level unionization is robustly significantly negative for working poverty. The effects of unionization are larger than the effects of states’ economic performance and social policies. Further, unionization reduces working poverty for both unionized and non-union households and does not appear to discourage employment. We conclude that American poverty research can advance by devoting greater attention to working poverty, and by incorporating insights from the comparative literature on institutions."
format TEXT
geographic USA
id 19126966124919441489_1315de1bc07a44be9f6c7b48f0544433
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19126966124919441489_1315de1bc07a44be9f6c7b48f0544433
is_hierarchy_title When unionization disappears: state-level unionization and working poverty in the U.S.
language English
physical 56 p.
Digital
publishDate 2013
publisher Luxembourg
LIS
spellingShingle Brady, David
Baker, Regina
Finnigan, Ryan
low wages
poverty
trade unionization
working poor
When unionization disappears: state-level unionization and working poverty in the U.S.
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=100517992879
title When unionization disappears: state-level unionization and working poverty in the U.S.
topic low wages
poverty
trade unionization
working poor
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19126966124919441489-When-unionization-disappears-s.htm