American Economic Review: Insights
ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)
The Impact of Unions on the Wage Distribution: Evidence from Higher Education
American Economic Review: Insights
(pp. 196–213)
Abstract
We estimate the impact of unionization on the wage distribution of Canadian university faculty using longitudinal administrative data on salaries and exploiting the staggered rollout of unionization across institutions. We find that unionization compressed salaries: Wages at the bottom of the unconditional distribution increased by roughly 10 percent, while wages at the top were unaffected. Our evidence suggests that these distributional impacts were driven by the introduction of contractual salary floors. We also estimate little impact of unionization on faculty employment. Instead, our results suggest that the increase in universities' wage bills was financed by an increase in student enrollment.Citation
Baker, Michael, Yosh Halberstam, Kory Kroft, Alexandre Mas, and Derek Messacar. 2026. "The Impact of Unions on the Wage Distribution: Evidence from Higher Education." American Economic Review: Insights 8 (2): 196–213. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20240722Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- J51 Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects