Membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage in Germany

Uwe Jirjahn

While there is a strong overlap between membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage, the overlap is far from being perfect. Using unique firm-level data from Germany, this study estimates the determinants of the membership in employers' associations and the coverage by industry-level or firm-level agreements. The analysis particularly focuses on the various constellations of membership and collective bargaining status. The results show that firm-level worker representation, foreign ownership, work organization, firm size, age and East-West differences are important determinants. Altogether, the analysis demonstrates that a more differentiated picture of industrial relations can be obtained by considering both membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage.

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Year of publication:	October 2021
Authors:	Jirjahn, Uwe
Publisher:	Bonn, Germany : IZA - Institute of Labor Economics
Subject:	employers' associations \| industry-level bargaining \| firm-level bargaining \| foreign ownership \| works councils \| union density \| Tarifverhandlungen \| Collective bargaining \| Deutschland \| Germany \| Gewerkschaftsmitgliedschaft \| Union membership \| Arbeitgeberverband \| Employers' organization \| Betriebsrat \| Works council \| Verhandlungstheorie des Lohnes \| Collective bargaining theory \| Arbeitsbeziehungen \| Employment relations \| Gewerkschaft \| Trade union \| Mitbestimmung \| Codetermination