Skip to main content
Log in

The effect of unions on professors’ salaries: The evidence over twenty years

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Labor Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

No study has recently examined how unions affect professors’ salaries. In the only studies using micro-level data, both Ashraf (1992) and Barbezat (1989) used data from 1977. I update earlier work by using data from 1988. In conjunction with data from 1969 and 1977, the effect of faculty unions over a twenty-year period is examined. While faculty at unionized colleges earned significantly less than their counterparts at nonunion institutions in 1969, they earned marginally more in 1977 and 1988.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Academe, Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors. “The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 1988-1989.” (March-April 1989).

  • American Council on Education. American Universities and Colleges. 12th ed. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1983.

  • Ashraf, Javed. “Do Unions Effect Faculty Salaries?” Economics of Education Review 11 (September 1992): 219–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbezat, Debra A. “The Effect of Collective Bargaining on Salaries in Higher Education.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 42 (April 1989): 443–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birnbaum, Robert. “Unionization and Faculty Compensation.” Educational Record 55 (Winter 1974): 29–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. “Unionization and Faculty Compensation, Part II.” Educational Record 57 (Spring 1976): 116–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, William W., and Courtenay Stone. “College Faculty Unions and Collective Bargaining: An Empirical Analysis of the Economic Gains.” Economic Inquiry 15 (July 1977): 385–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cotton, Jeremiah. “On the Decomposition of Wage Differentials.” Review of Economics and Statistics 70 (May 1988): 236–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, Joel M., and Carol Rosenberg. Directory of Faculty Contracts and Bargaining Agents in Institutions of Higher Education. New York: National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education, Baruch College, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, Gregory M., and Duane E. Leigh. “Wage Determination in the Union and Nonunion Sectors: A Sample Selectivity Approach.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 34 (October 1980): 24–34. Freeman, Richard B. “Should We Organize? The Effects of Faculty Unionism on Academic Compensation.” Working Paper No. 301, National Bureau of Economic Research, November 1978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, “Unionism and the Dispersion of Wages.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 34 (October 1980): 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, and James L. Medoff. “The Impact of Collective Bargaining: Illusion or Reality?” In U.S. Industrial Relations 1950-1980: A Critical Assessment. In Steiber, J., R. McKenzie, and D. Mills, eds. Madison, Wisc: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1981, pp. 47–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, Teh Wei, and Larry L. Leslie. “The Effect of Collective Bargaining on College Faculty Salaries and Compensation.” Applied Economics 14 (1982): 269–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, Everett C, and Seymour M. Lipset. 1977 Survey of the American Professoriate. Documentation for computer tape. Starrs, Conn.: Roper Center, University of Connecticut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Lung-Fei. “Unionism and Wage Rates: A Simultaneous Equations Model with Qualitative and Limited Dependent Variables.” International Economic Review 19 (June 1978): 415–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, Edward P. Special Report No. 12. Washington, D.C.: Academic Collective Bargaining Information Service, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, Joan L. “The Effects of Collective Bargaining on Faculty Salaries in Higher Education.” Journal of Higher Education 50 (May-June 1979): 310–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, Catherine G. The Impact of Unions on Hospital Wages, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1980.

  • Morgan, David R., and Richard C. Kearney. “Collective Bargaining and Faculty Compensation: A Comparative Analysis.” Sociology of Education 50 (January 1977): 28–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, George R., and James J. Heckman. “Union Wage Differentials and the Decision to Join Unions.” Mimeo,University of Chicago, 1977.

  • Neumark, David B. “Employers' Discriminatory Behavior and the Estimation of Wage Discrimination.” Journal of Human Resources 23 (Summer 1988): 279–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

The author is currently on leave from the University of West Florida and is serving as Professor and Vice-President of the Textile University of Pakistan. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Southern Economic Association meetings in New Orleans, November 21–23, 1993. The author thanks some of the participants for very useful suggestions.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ashraf, J. The effect of unions on professors’ salaries: The evidence over twenty years. J Labor Res 18, 439–450 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-997-1049-9

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-997-1049-9

Keywords

Navigation