TY  - JOUR
AU  - Freeman,Richard B.
AU  - Medoff,James L.
TI  - New Estimates of the Industrial Locus of Unionism in the United States
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 273
PY  - 1978
Y2  - August 1978
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0273
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0273.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Richard B. Freeman
NBER
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/868-3900
Fax: 617/868-2742
E-Mail: freeman@nber.org

James L. Medoff
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center 115
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-4209
E-Mail: jmedoff@harvard.edu
AB  - This study presents new estimates of collective bargaining coverage and union membership for detailed U.S. industries. It compares the new coverage and membership figures with each other and with figures derived by researchers for the early 1960's and analyzes the divergences. This analysis leads to three primary conclusions:1) Estimated coverage percentages are on average higher than estimated membership percentages; 2) This relationship is primarily the result of the absence of union security clauses (under which covered employees must at some point become union members); 3) Even among production workers within detailed industries, private sector unionism has been dwindling during the past two decades.
ER  -