Tenure, Unions, and the Relationship between Employer Size and Wages

Abstract

The unionization rate in a worker's industry and the worker's tenure are interacted with employer size in wage regressions using Current Population Survey data. The results provide insight into the relatively small size-wage relationship in the union sector. Nonunion tenure profiles steepen sharply with establishment size, while union profiles flatten. Also, the effect of industry unionization increases with firm size in the nonunion sector, a pattern indicative of threat effects. A separate analysis of nonunion wages indicates that size-wage relationships are stronger in occupations associated with high monitoring costs. Copyright 1990 by University of Chicago Press.