Unions and the Gender Wage Gap in South Africa
نویسنده
چکیده
Studies of the wage effects of unions in South Africa have been largely concerned with the impact of union membership on the wages of African and White male workers. Consistent with findings in the international literature, these studies have concluded that unions compress the distribution of wages in South Africa, and, more specifically, that racial inequality is lower in the union sector compared to the nonunion sector. In this paper we explore whether unions in South Africa have similar gender wage effects, using the sample of African workers from the Labour Force Survey of 2003. Contrary to international findings, our results suggest that the gender wage gap is larger in the union sector compared to the non-union sector. We explore likely reasons for this result. We also consider the effect of possible selection into union status on our estimates, and demonstrate the difficulty of addressing this problem in the South African context by evaluating a variety of selection models. JEL Classification: J16; J31; J51
منابع مشابه
Labor Unions and the Distribution of Wages and Employment in South Africa
Labor unions are an important economic and political force in South Africa. Inequality in wage rates is among the largest in the world in South Africa, with African and white workers receiving wages that differ by a factor of five. The complex role of unions in closing and creating this wage gap is assessed in this paper. Union membership among Africa male workers is shown to be associated in 1...
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