Wage Inequality Increase Due to Reduction in Unionization

Working In These Times
Sept. 1, 2012
Mike ElkA new study put out by the Economic Policy Institute says that reduction in unionization has contributed to 33 percent of the increase in wage inequality over the last 30 years. From EPI:

The union wage premium—the percentage-higher wage earned by those covered by a collective bargain­ing contract—is 13.6 percent over­all (17.3 percent for men and 9.1 percent for women).
Unionized workers are 28.2 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance and 53.9 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions.
From 1973 to 2011, the share of the workforce represented by unions declined from 26.7 percent to 13.1 percent. ... Deunionization can explain about a third of the entire growth of wage inequality among men and around a fifth of the growth among women from 1973 to 2007.