Trade Union Decline and Union Wage Effects in Australia

Abstract

Union density in Australia fell precipitously in the 1990s. This study investigates how union wage effects may have changed as a result. The findings from 1993 data suggest that union/nonunion wage differentials were very small, especially among workers in high‐density industries. By 2001 the overall union wage effect had increased significantly; however, the union/nonunion wage differential was no longer correlated with union density at the industry level.

Firm Size and Work-Related Training: New Evidence on Incidence, Intensity, and Training Type from Australia

“…Some labor market studies using data from Australia have opted to control for the size of the firm (e.g. Wooden 1996;Waddoups 2005), while others have used establishment size (Booth and Katic 2011;Miller and Mulvey 1996). The size measure used in this paper represents the number of employees in all the firm's establishments throughout Australia.…”

Wage differentials between immigrants and the native-born in Australia

“…The interest of the Australian case in this area is not merely because Australia is a country of immigrants, with nearly one in four of its population born overseas in 2006 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007), the unique wage setting system[1], where award wages set by an independent industrial tribunal coexist with collectively bargained wages at the enterprise level (Waddoups, 2005), and the increasingly skill-based immigration policies provide a richer setting to understand immigrants' labour market outcomes relative to the native-born [2]. Australia's unique policy setting may result in a more compressed wage distribution (e.g.…”

Union Wage Effects in Australia: Is There Variation along the Distribution?*

“…Since the early‐1990s, through a ruling of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the Australian wage setting started to shift from industry‐based awards towards enterprise‐based (or workplace‐based) agreements (Waddoups, 2005). The introduction of the Workplace Relations Act (WRA) in 1996 further legitimised this practice.…”

“…For example, in May 2000 only 23.2 per cent of employees were paid under an award compared to 67.6 per cent in May 1990 (Department of Employment & Workplace Relations, 2002). 2 If anything, the new system could have increased the union wage effect for at least two reasons (Wooden, 2001; Waddoups, 2005). First, the decentralised wage setting system offers opportunities for unions to exert their powers in negotiating over rent sharing.…”

“…Second, due to the reduction in the influence of arbitration, union‐bargained wage benefits are now less likely to spread to non‐union workers compared to the previous award system. Indeed, recently Waddoups (2005) finds that relative to 1993, the overall union wage effect increased significantly by 2001 3…”