UNION WAGE DETERMINATION IN CANADIAN AND US MANUFACTURING, 1964-1990 - A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

The author analyzes nominal and real wage changes in unionized manufac turing firms in Canada and the United States over the years 1964-90. H e finds more differences between the countries' patterns of wage deter mination in the years 1964-79 than have commonly been recognized. In t he 1980s, the nominal wage determination structure changed more sharpl y in the United States than in Canada. Real wage determination changed little in the United States before 1986, while after 1986 observed re al wage growth was significantly smaller than what would have been pre dicted based on patterns of bargaining in earlier years. In Canada, re al wages in the 1980s were significantly higher than they would have b een if the previous patterns of wage determination had persisted. Both the nominal and real wage change results suggest that unions in U.S. manufacturing fared poorly in wage bargaining in the 1980s by comparis on with their Canadian counterparts.