POSTWAR UNIONIZATION IN 18 ADVANCED CAPITALIST COUNTRIES

Unionization follows strongly divergent patterns among OECD countries in the postwar period. I propose business cycle, demographic, and political arguments to explain varying unionization over time. Centralized union movements that engage in corporatist bargaining and union disbursement of unemployment benefits suggest explanations of cross-national variability in unionization. Analysis of annual data for 18 OECD countries from 1950 to 1985 indicates strong positive effects of union centralization and union disbursement of unemployment benefits on unionization. Union centralization also shapes the longitudinal effect of strike activity on unionization while union disbursement of unemployment benefits positively influences longitudinal effects of unemployment and employment growth. Results suggest that labor movements flourish when they establish an institutional control over labor market outcomes beyond wage bargaining. When labor's institutional control is weak, worker militancy may encourage working class organization in trade unions.