Out of 24 countries, the latest union density rates are lower than in 1970 in all but four small European economies (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium). "These four happen to be the only ones in which unions are involved in the administration and execution of unemployment insurance". So writes Jelle Visser of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) in the January 2006 Monthly Labor Review. His piece, Union membership statistics in 24 countries, provides an analysis of "adjusted" union membership time series data in 24 countries, and explanatory factors for the differences and trends in unionization. Three other findings are noteworthy.
First, the decline of union density among the young is "a rather universal research finding". Second, union decline has been particularly marked in the private sector:
The decline in unionization is concentrated very strongly in the market or private sector of the economy, with rates of unionization in the public or government sector remaining very high
in most countries.
Third, there has been a "rapid advance" of female union membership relative to that of men:
One striking finding is that in a number of countries the female unionization rate is equal with (Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland) or even higher (Sweden, Norway, Finland) than the male unionization rate.
Visser also compiles union data for the ILO and the annual OECD Employment Outlook, and has published widely on the topic. My main concern with this report is that, even though adjusted, some of the national estimates are still suspect - particularly those based on administrative sources. For alternative membership estimates for many of these countries, based on standardised European Social Survey questions, see Determinants of Union Membership in 18 EU Countries: Evidence from Micro Data, 2002/03 by Claus Schnabel and Joachim Wagner.
Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium [...] happen to be the only ones in which unions are involved in the administration and execution of unemployment insurance.
Well, I did not read that piece and I might be misunderstanding what he means by "being involved in the administration and execution of unemployment insurance" but I think that these are not the only countries. In France, Unedic/Assedic (in charge of collecting social contributions from workers and firms and paying compensation to unemployed) is managed by both unions and employers organization ("partenaires sociaux"). This sounds rather weak as an explanation...
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