Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/110140 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8943
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper provides the first definitive estimates of union density in Portugal, 2010-2012, using a unique dataset. The determinants of union density at firm level are first modeled. Next, we draw upon a very recent study of the union wage premium to provide summary estimates of the union wage gap for different ranges of union density. Since these estimates fully reflect the reality of an industrial relations system in which collective agreements are extended to nonunion workers and firms, the final issue examined is contract coverage. Although there has occurred a pronounced fall in the number of new extension agreements in recent years, this decline has been uncritically linked with a fall in coverage. We show that the number of workers covered by new and existing agreements has been largely unaffected by economic crisis. The reduced frequency of new agreements and extensions is viewed as an aspect of downward nominal wage rigidity in deflationary times (the counterpart of "upward nominal wage rigidity" in more normal times) rather than the immediate expression of a crisis in collective bargaining per se.
Subjects: 
collective bargaining
union density
collective agreement coverage
union wage premium
nominal wage rigidity
Portugal
JEL: 
J31
J52
J53
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
386.11 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.