TY - RPRT AU - Clemens, Jeffrey AU - Strain, Michael R. TI - The Minimum Wage and Union Membership among Minimum Wage Workers: Why Do Unions Advocate for Minimum Wage Increases? PY - 2022/Oct/ PB - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) CY - Bonn T2 - IZA Discussion Paper IS - 15685 UR - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp15685 AB - Over the past decade, organized labor has played a significant role in advocating for minimum wage increases. In this paper, we investigate the effects of minimum wage increases on union membership among individuals in minimum wage intensive industries. Consistent with a "freeriding" hypothesis, we find that minimum wage increases predict declines in union membership among low-skilled's most direct beneficiaries. We find no evidence of a change in union membership among high-skilled workers in these industries. KW - political economy KW - social choice KW - minimum wage KW - unionization ER -