THE UNION WAGE EFFECT IN LATE 19TH-CENTURY BRITAIN

This paper offers an historical dimension to the impact of trade union s on earnings by estimating the union wage effect in Britain in 1889-9 0 using data from the US Commissioner of Labor survey conducted at tha t time. The determinants of union status are also investigated in term s of a probit estimation using individual characteristics which may be correlated with union membership. The results of this first step are used in the computation of selectivity-corrected estimates of the unio n wage effect. It is found that the effect of union membership on earn ings at this time was of the order of 15%-20% and that this effect was similar at different skill levels. A broadly similar pattern is obser ved for industry groups, although the difference in the impact of unio ns on earnings across industries was greater than across skill groups.