The Union Wage Effect in Japan

Copyright (C)2008, The Regents of the University of California. The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com

Previous studies point to Japanese labor unions' lack of bargaining power that results from their organization at an enterprise level. However, a detailed examination of the institutional setting backed by the Labor Standard Law and Trade Union Law reveals that unions have strong bargaining power against deteriorating work conditions. This paper examines the effect of unions on wages using the Japan General Social Surveys 2000-2003, which cover a period of economic stagnation. We find a robust union-wage premium for both males and females. A Cotton-Neumark decomposition reveals that about one fifth of union workers' higher wage is explained by the difference in the union and non-union wage structures. We also can confirm the union-wage compression effect using the DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1996) method. Union workers are likely to think that they will not find jobs with similar compensation packages if they leave their current jobs. In sum, unions in Japan contribute to an increase in the average wage and compress the wage distribution among their workers. This result is reconciled with previous findings by considering the uniqueness of the macro-economic conditions of the sample period.

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

2008-10

English(eng)

journal article

AM

0019-8676

AA00217416

Industrial Relations : A Journal of Economy and Society

47

4

569

590

010a Journal Articles　=　雑誌掲載論文

https://hdl.handle.net/10086/16273