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Migration and trade union rights

Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics volume 146, pages 677–707 (2010)Cite this article

Summary

We study in this paper both theoretically and empirically the influence of trade union rights in origin countries on bilateral migration flows. Theoretically, trade union rights are supposed to increase the bargaining power of workers. Alternatively, it may benefit only to formal workers if these rights are not applied in the informal sector. We then propose different alternative indexes measuring trade union rights. We find that, all things being equal, more trade union rights tend to be associated with less migration of low-skill and high-skilled workers. Effects are not significant for intermediate skill level. Lastly, we show that social tensions may have the opposite effect. If trade union rights are associated with more social instability, it may increase the level of migration. It emphasizes the importance of social dialogue.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LEO-CNRS (UMR 6221), Université d’Orléans, France

    Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier

Authors
  1. Thierry Baudassé
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  2. Rémi Bazillier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thierry Baudassé.

Additional information

We would like to thank Tobias Müller, Sivio Tai and participants at the SSES annual meeting. All remaining errors are obviously ours.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Baudassé, T., Bazillier, R. Migration and trade union rights. Swiss J Economics Statistics 146, 677–707 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399333

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399333

JEL-Classification

  • F22
  • J51
  • J61
  • J83

Keywords

  • migration
  • core labor standards
  • freedom of association and collective bargaining