TY - UNPB

T1 - Unions, Dissatisfied Workers and Sorting

AU - Green, C

AU - Heywood, J S

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - A persistent and sizeable literature argues that the reported job dissatisfaction of union members is spurious. It reflects either the sorting of workers across union status or the sorting of union recognition across jobs. We cast doubt on this argument presenting the first estimates that use panel data to hold constant both worker and job match fixed effects. The estimates demonstrate that covered union members report greater dissatisfaction even when accounting for sorting in both dimensions. Moreover, covered union members are less likely to quit holding job satisfaction constant and their quit behaviour is far less responsive to job satisfaction. The paradox of the discontented union member remains intact.

AB - A persistent and sizeable literature argues that the reported job dissatisfaction of union members is spurious. It reflects either the sorting of workers across union status or the sorting of union recognition across jobs. We cast doubt on this argument presenting the first estimates that use panel data to hold constant both worker and job match fixed effects. The estimates demonstrate that covered union members report greater dissatisfaction even when accounting for sorting in both dimensions. Moreover, covered union members are less likely to quit holding job satisfaction constant and their quit behaviour is far less responsive to job satisfaction. The paradox of the discontented union member remains intact.

KW - Union Membership

KW - Union Coverage

KW - Job Satisfaction

KW - Sorting

KW - Fixed Effects

M3 - Working paper

T3 - Economics Working Paper Series

BT - Unions, Dissatisfied Workers and Sorting

PB - The Department of Economics

CY - Lancaster University

ER -