Youth-adult differences in the demand for unionization: Are American, British, and Canadian workers all that different?

We examine demand for union membership amongst young and adult workers in Britain, Canada, and the United States. Using a model of representation advanced by Farber (1983, 2001) and Riddell (1993), we find that a majority of the union density differential between young and adult workers in all three countries is due to supply-side constraints rather than a lower desire for unionization by the young. This finding lends credence to two conjectures: first, tastes for collective representation do not differ substantially among workers (either by nationality or by age) and second, union representation can be fruitfully modeled as an experience-good. The experience-good properties of union membership explain the persistence of union density differentials (in this case between youth and adults) in the face of equal levels of desired representation. An earlier version of this paper appeared as Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) discussion paper dp515, January 2002. This paper was produced under the “Future of Trade Unions in Modern Britain” program supported by the Leverhulme Trust and with the financial help of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. We thank Jo Blanden, Andy Charlwood, David Metcalf, and Steve Machin for comments on an earlier draft. We dedicate this paper to our mentor and friend, the late Noah Meltz, who passed away as this paper was being written.