{"title":"Do unions provide employment protection in times of economic crisis? A natural experiment of COVID-19","authors":"Woo-Yung KIM","doi":"10.1111/ilr.12385","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Considering the COVID-19 pandemic as an exogenous shock, this article attempts to determine whether unions adjusted wages and working hours to protect their members during the economic crisis that it triggered. Based on 2018–20 Korean panel data, the author finds that, during the pandemic, union members were 1.9 times more likely to keep their jobs than non-union members. However, no significant difference is found between the wage growth in the two sectors, although union members decreased their working hours more than nonunion members. The results therefore suggest that unions provided employment protection during this period by reducing working hours, not wages.</p>","PeriodicalId":47216,"journal":{"name":"International Labour Review","volume":"162 4","pages":"615-639"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Labour Review","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ilr.12385","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Considering the COVID-19 pandemic as an exogenous shock, this article attempts to determine whether unions adjusted wages and working hours to protect their members during the economic crisis that it triggered. Based on 2018–20 Korean panel data, the author finds that, during the pandemic, union members were 1.9 times more likely to keep their jobs than non-union members. However, no significant difference is found between the wage growth in the two sectors, although union members decreased their working hours more than nonunion members. The results therefore suggest that unions provided employment protection during this period by reducing working hours, not wages.
期刊介绍:
The International Labour Review is the world"s leading multidisciplinary journal of labour market institutions and economics. Its aim is to advance academic research and inform policy debate and decision-making in these fields by bringing together the original thinking of lawyers, economists, sociologists, political scientists and industrial relations specialists on a broad range of labour market policy and social protection concerns. The International Labour Review also features concise reports on current developments considered to be of particular interest to those working in these fields and reviews of recent major publications. It is committed to an editorial policy that combines accessibility with rigorous, insightful analysis and the highest scholarly standards.