Working Paper: NBER ID: w31576
Authors: Samuel Dodini; Michael F. Lovenheim; Alexander Willn
Abstract: Concurrent with the precipitous decline in private sector unionization over the past half century, there has been a shift in the type of work covered by unions. We take a skill-based approach to studying this shift, using data from the Current Population Survey combined with occupation-specific task requirements from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and the Occupational Information Network. We partition skills into four groups based on two dimensions of task requirements: non-routine cognitive, non-routine manual, routine cognitive, and routine manual. For both men and women, private sector unionized jobs have changed to require more non-routine, cognitive skills and for women, less routine/manual skills. Union, non-union skill differences have grown, with unionized jobs requiring relatively more non-routine cognitive skill for both groups but also relatively more routine skills. We decompose these skill changes into: (1) changes in skills within an occupation, (2) changes in worker concentration across existing occupations, and (3) changes to the occupational mix from entry and exit. Most of the skill changes we document are driven by the second two forces. Finally, we discuss how this evidence can be reconciled with a model of skill-biased technological change that explicitly accounts for the institutional framework surrounding collective bargaining.
Keywords: union coverage; skill content; private sector; labor market; unionization
JEL Codes: J24; J5
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| private sector unionized jobs (J58) | require more nonroutine cognitive skills (D87) |
| shifts in worker concentration across occupations (J69) | increase in nonroutine cognitive skill intensity among unionized jobs (J59) |
| changes in occupational mix (J69) | increase in nonroutine cognitive skill intensity among unionized jobs (J59) |
| decrease in routine-manual skills for women (J29) | increase in nonroutine cognitive skill intensity among women (J24) |
| changes in worker shares across occupations (J29) | increase in nonroutine cognitive skill intensity among women (J24) |
| occupational entry/exit dynamics (J63) | increase in nonroutine cognitive skill intensity among women (J24) |
| unionization costs and employment composition shifts (J39) | skills gap decline between union and nonunion jobs (J50) |