PUBLIC-TRANSIT WAGE RATES - PRE-REAGAN AND REAGAN-BUSH ERAS

This paper examines the earnings of public transit bus drivers for bot h the pre-Reagan and Reagan-Bush eras using Current Population Survey data. The findings show that union drivers were consistently paid a si gnificant wage premium over nonunion drivers, a premium which also exc eeded that for unionized private nontransport operatives - suggesting that special institutional features of the public transit industry hav e collectively conferred market power on unionized public transit work ers. During the Reagan years, the earnings of public transit drivers, union and nonunion alike, rose relative to those of private and public nontransport operatives in spite of federally-spearheaded cost contai nment policies. In 1990, these earnings fell relative to those of priv ate and public nontransport operatives, suggesting that the effects of these policies may be beginning to be felt.