Wage Effects of Unions and Industrial Councils in South Africa

Butcher, Kristin F. ; Rouse, Cecilia Elena

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AREA;    CENTER;    COLLECTIVE BARGAINING;    CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT;    DEVELOPMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2520
RP-ID  :  WPS2520

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In South Africa, unions which played acrucial in the country's transition from apartheid, arecoming under fire. Some argue that a high union wagepremium, and the industrial council system are importantcauses of inflexibility in South Africa's labor market.The authors analyze unions' direct effect onworkers' wages (including the time-honored questionabout whether the union wage gap is real, or reflects thefact that workers who are members of unions, differ fromthose who are not), and ask whether there is evidence thatindustrial council agreements force affected employers topay union wages for non-union workers. They estimate thatamong Africans, union members earn about twenty percent morethan non-members, while among whites, union workers earn tenpercent more than non-union workers. They find that Africannon-union workers, who are covered by industrial councilagreements, receive a premium of six to 10 percent; thepremium is positive, but not statistically significant forwhites. In addition, the union gap is smaller inside theindustrial council system, than outside the system forAfricans, implying that the total union premium for unionmembers covered by an industrial council agreement, issimilar to the union premium outside the industrial councilsystem. Among Africans, the industrial council, and unionwage gaps, are greatest among low-wage workers. To increaseemployment, policies in South Africa should focus onincreasing competition among employers within sectors,rather than increasing competition among workers, by tryingto reduce union power.