Wage Distribution Impacts of Higher Education Faculty Unionization

Authors

Charles S. Wassell Jr., Central Washington UniversityFollow
David W. Hedrick, Central Washington University
Steven E. Henson, Western Washington University
John M. Krieg, Western Washington University

Department or Administrative Unit

Economics

Document Type

Article

Author Copyright

The Keep © 2015; © 2015 National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education

Publication Date

2015

Journal

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Abstract

The literature on the effects of unions on the distribution of wages at the macroeconomic and inter-industry levels has given little attention to the effects at the firm level. At the same time, research on collective bargaining impacts in higher education has focused on the overall wage level rather than on the distribution of salaries. Using panel data on individual faculty members, we find faculty unionization to be associated with a significant flattening of the wage distribution across academic disciplines. This has implications for why faculty might choose to unionize, even in the absence of an overall wage premium.

Comments

This article was originally published in Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academ. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Recommended Citation

Wassell Jr., C.S.; Hedrick, D.W.; Henson, S.E.; & Krieg, J.M. (2015). Wage Distribution Impacts of Higher Education Faculty Unionization. Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, 7(1), 4.