TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Munch, Jakob R.
AU  - Olney, William W.
        TI  - Offshoring and the Decline of Unions
        PY  - 2024/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 17116
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp17116
        AB  - The prevalence of labor unions have declined post-WWII, and this paper examines whether globalization is a contributing factor. Offshoring jobs abroad may change the composition of domestic firms and employment and thus reduce union density. Alternatively, a firms' ability to offshore may erode the union's bargaining power, decrease the benefits of union membership, and reduce unionization rates. We test these predictions using an employer-employee matched data set covering the universe of workers and firms in Denmark (1999-2017), which allows us to measure the exogenous threat of offshoring at the firm-level and the unionization decisions of individual workers. 
The findings show that the threat of offshoring reduces unionization rates, even within a job-spell. This is not driven by the changing composition of firms or workers, but instead appears to be due to a decline in the union's bargaining position. Additional results confirm that the union wage premium and the rent-sharing elasticity are both smaller at offshoring firms. These results have important policy implications for the distributional effects of globalization and for the future of organized labor.
        KW  - offshoring
KW  - unions
KW  - trade
KW  - globalization
KW  - collective bargaining
        ER  -