The Impact of Labor Unions on the Wages of Union and Nonunion Workers : Revisited

Abstract

In this paper I use Current Population Survey data on individual workers, who are either members of a labor union or are not, to study the effect of the degree of unionization on the wages of both classes of workers. I introduce both the degree to which an industry's labor force is unionized as well as the degree to which workers in a given metropolitan area are organized. My findings are that an industry's union density significantly influences the wages of union workers only and that union density in a geographical area significantly affects the wages of both union and nonunion workers.