Immigrants Reduce Unionization in the United States

Authors

• Town Oh, DePauw UniversityFollow
• Alex Nowrasteh, Cato Institute

Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

5-6-2025

JEL Codes

J5, J15, F66

Abstract

Since the 1960s, U.S. union density has consistently dropped as the immigrant share of the population has risen. Using the Naylor and Cripps (1993) model of union formation, we argue that immigrants lower unionization by increasing diversity in the working population that, in turn, reduces solidarity and by having lower preferences for unionization. Empirically, we employ the skill-cell method devised by Borjas (2003) over the 1994-2020 period. Immigration can explain 30 percent of the decline in union density from 1994-2020.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5226570

Comments

The copyright holder has granted SSRN a license. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.

Recommended Citation

Oh, Town and Nowrasteh, Alex, Immigrants Reduce Unionization in the United States (December 01, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5226570 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5226570