Strike activity in the united states: An analysis of the stocks and flows

Evidence indicates that a dichotomy exists between the stocks and flows of strike activity in the United States. Canonical correlation analysis was applied to U.S. strike data from 1955 through 1980 to ascertain whether the economic or sociopolitical models of strikes were more appropriate to the explanation of either the stock or flow of strikes. The economic variables were the most important in explaining variations in the flow while the linear time trend together with the economic variables explained the variations in the stock of strikes. This suggests that strikes begin for economic reasons and that the dimensions of the stock of strikes may be more closely correlated with variables not used in the analysis but exhibit a trend over the period examined, hence a dichotomy between the flow and stock of strike activity.