INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR UNIONIZATION IN 16 OECD COUNTRIES - AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL SURVEY DATA

A key debate in studies of unionization concerns the influence of stru ctural characteristics of labor markets on labor organizing. Studies o f national survey data reveal strong relationships between unionizatio n and demographic, industrial, and occupational structures. By contras t, comparativists analyzing highly aggregated union density data empha size the institutional determinants of labor organization. In this art icle I synthesize structural and institutional explanations of unioniz ation in a multilevel analysis that combines social survey data and co mparative institutional information from 16 countries of the Organisat ion for Economic Cooperation and Development. This analysis indicates that highly centralized collective bargaining and union-managed unempl oyment insurance schemes are associated with high and distinctively so lidaristic patterns of unionization. More generally, the results sugge sts that institutions that displace market allocation with political c ontrol assist working-class organization in trade unions.