Immigrants and trade union membership: Does integration into society and workplace play a moderating role?

Arbeitspapier

We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel, our empirical analysis confirms a unionization gap for first-generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, the analysis shows that the immigrant-native gap in union membership indeed depends on immigrants' integration into the workplace and society. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IAAEU Discussion Paper Series in Economics ; No. 03/2022

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination ; Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation; Collective Bargaining ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: Union membership ; migration ; works council ; social contacts with natives ; years since arrival

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bedaso, Fenet Jima ; Jirjahn, Uwe ; Goerke, Laszlo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Trier, Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU)
• (where): Trier
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/265261
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET