Economic Effects of The Firefighters' Union

Abstract

This is a study of the effects of unionism in the public sector occupation of firefighting. A large and detailed set of data permits the examination of submarkets of this occupation. A before/after methodology is introduced to obtain more precise estimates of union wage differentials. The study's findings are: (1) that there is a greater union effect on fringes than on salaries which indicates a significant alteration in the composition of the compensation package;(2) that the estimates from the before/after methodology confirm the cross-section results which show modest union wage differentials; and ,most significantly, (3) that the union effect varies along different dimensions -- most notably the length of the contractual arrangement between municipality and union.