Dutch trade union membership 1979-1995

Determinants of Dutch trade union membership are analysed for the years 197 9, 1987 and 1995. By means of a decomposition method it is established that changing characteristics of the working population primarily caused the un ion decline between 1979 and 1987, whereas the recovery afterwards can be e ntirely attributed to changing unionization behaviour. A further applicatio n of the decomposition method shows that the contribution of the separate e xplanatory variables to shifts in the density rate is less straightforward than the results of the first analyses suggest.