Employer associations in Italy: Trends and economic outcomes

This study analyses the representativeness of employer associations in Italy, using unique firm‐level data with information on employers' affiliation and their characteristics. We document that a persistent decline in affiliation rates to employers' associations has occurred during the las...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish journal of industrial relations Vol. 62; no. 2; pp. 206 - 232
Main Authors Fanfani, Bernardo, Lucifora, Claudio, Vigani, Daria
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2024
Subjects
Associations
Collective bargaining
Employers
Innovations
Labor unions
Membership
Representativeness
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Summary:This study analyses the representativeness of employer associations in Italy, using unique firm‐level data with information on employers' affiliation and their characteristics. We document that a persistent decline in affiliation rates to employers' associations has occurred during the last two decades. We show that affiliated companies are positively selected, as they tend to be larger, older, more likely to be located in richer regions, to be export and innovation oriented, and more likely to provide training. Using longitudinal data and regression decomposition techniques, we show that larger firms have been more affected by the decline in affiliation rates over time. Finally, we show that the level of representativeness of employers' associations has a weak positive effect on collective bargaining occupational wage minima settled by these organizations in national industry‐wide collective contracts after a negotiation process with trade unions.
ISSN:0007-1080
1467-8543
DOI:10.1111/bjir.12735