Why so unhappy? The effects of unionization on job satisfaction

We use linked employer-employee data to investigate the job satisfaction effect of union membership in Britain. We depart from previous studies by developing a model that simultaneously controls for the determinants of individual membership status and for the selection of employees into occupations according to union coverage. We find that a negative association between membership and satisfaction typically found in previous studies is confined to non-covered employees. We interpret this as a union voice effect. In covered occupations the negative association between membership and satisfaction disappears having accounted for selection effects, suggesting that less satisfied individuals are more likely to be union members, but only when the occupation is covered by collective bargaining. Our results are also consistent with the existence of queues for union covered jobs. JEL classification: J28, J51