COMPENSATING PAYMENTS AND HAZARDOUS WORK IN UNION AND NONUNION SETTINGS

This paper extends the results of past research on estimated compensating payments and estimated injury rate equations for the union and nonunion sectors. It allows for both simultaneity in the determination of income and safety and structural differences in their determinants across the two sectors. Although union settings are found to maintain larger compensating payments for hazardous work than nonunion settings, they also appear to contain higher injury rates, all else constant. A fuller understanding of these results will require further analysis of the differing institutional mechanisms for compensation and safety determination in union and nonunion labor markets.