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Unions as insurance: Workplace unionization and workers' outcomes during COVID-19

  • Nils Braakmann*
  • , Boris Hirsch
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate to what extent workplace unionization protects workers from external shocks by preventing involuntary job separations. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a plausibly exogenous shock hitting the whole economy, we compare workers who worked in unionized and non-unionized workplaces directly before the pandemic in a difference-in-differences framework. We find that unionized workers were substantially more likely to remain working for their pre-COVID employer and to be in employment. This greater employment stability was not traded off against lower working hours or labor income.

Original languageEnglish
JournalIndustrial Relations
Volume63
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)152-171
Number of pages20
ISSN0019-8676
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04.2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Industrial Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Regents of the University of California (RUC).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Research areas and keywords

  • Economics

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Industrial relations
  • Management of Technology and Innovation
  • Strategy and Management
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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