What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?

Abstract

Much of Richard Freeman and James Medoff story on unions and economic performance holds up well. They rightly emphasize that union effects on productivity vary with respect to the labor relations environment and degree of competition, that unions generally decrease profitability, and that there exists slower growth in the union sector of the economy. Freeman and Medoff again rightly emphasize that: “What unions do to productivity is one of the key factors in assessing the overall economic impact of unions”. They conclude that in general unions tend to increase productivity, although the effect varies to no small extent with respect to time and place and the associated labor relations environment. Freeman and Medoff rightly emphasize the importance of what unions do to productivity. If collective bargaining in the workplace were systematically to increase productivity and not to retard growth, a strong argument could be made for policies that facilitate union organizing.

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