Do unions provide employment protection in times of economic crisis? A natural experiment of COVID‐19

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 mem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational labour review Vol. 162; no. 4; pp. 615 - 639
Main Author KIM, Woo‐Yung
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Geneva International Labour Organization, represented by the International Labour Office (ILO) 01.12.2023
Subjects
COVID-19
Economic crisis
Employment
employment protection
Pandemics
panel analysis
Panel data
trade union
Union membership
wages
Wages & salaries
Working hours
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Summary: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.
Bibliography:162 (4), and Spanish, in
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Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.
142 (4).
Revue internationale du Travail
The author would like to thank participants in the 2021 Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) seminar and the 2022 Japanese Applied Economics seminar, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
Revista Internacional del Trabajo
ISSN:0020-7780
1564-913X
DOI:10.1111/ilr.12385