All Wage & Salary

Public Administration

Private Sector Wage & Salary

All

Nonagricultural

 Construction

Manufacturing

Public Sector Wage & Salary

All

Federal

State

Local

Demographic Groups

Less Than Bacherlor's degree

Bachelor's degree or more

Male

Female

White Male

White Female

Black Male

Black Female

Hispanic Male

Hispanic Female

Data sources include the 1973-81 the May Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 1983-2023 CPS Outgoing Rotation Group (ORG) Earnings Files.  There were no union questions in the 1982 CPS. Sample includes wage and salary workers, ages 16 and over, with non-missing earnings and hours worked information.  Variable definitions are: Sample=CPS sample size, Wage=mean hourly earnings in nominal  dollars,  Union Wage=mean wage among union members, Nonunion Wage=mean wage among nonunion workers,  %At Cap=percent of workers with weekly earnings at the top code of $999 through 1988, $1,923 in 1989-97, and $2,885 beginning in 1998, with individuals assigned mean earnings above the cap based on annual estimates of the gender-specific Pareto distribution. Beginning in 2023, the CPS assigns anyone with weekly earnings in the top 3% a reported value equal to the mean of weekly earnings in the top 3% from April through December for observations with month in sample equal 4.   These observations are not counted as topcoded.  The $2,885 topcode is used for all other 2023 observations and are counted as topcoded,  Unadjusted Union Wage Premium is the percentage difference between the union and nonunion wage; the Adjusted Union Wage Premium is estimated as exp(b)-1 where b is the regression coefficient on a union membership variable (equal to 1 if union and 0 otherwise) from a semi-logarithmic wage equation, with controls included for worker/job characteristics.  Included in the all-worker wage equation are the control variables: years of schooling, potential years of experience [proxied by age minus years of schooling  minus 6] and its square [both interacted with gender], and categorical variables for marital status,  race and ethnicity, gender, part-time, large metropolitan area, state, public sector, broad industry, and broad occupation.  Controls are omitted, as appropriate, for estimates within sectors or by demographic group [i.e., by class, gender, race, or industry sector].  Workers who do not report earnings but instead have them imputed [i.e., assigned] by the Census are removed from the estimation samples in all years, except 1994 and 1995 when imputed earners cannot be identified.  Inclusion of imputed earners  causes union wages to be understated, nonunion wages overstated, and union-nonunion wage differences understated.  For 1994-95, the sample includes imputed earners and estimates in those years have been adjusted to remove the bias from imputation. 

© 2024 by Barry T. Hirsch, David A. Macpherson, and William E. Even.  Use of data requires citation.