Posted on Jan 22, 2016
With public sector unions on the rocks, middle class may take another hit
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"Liberals have long touted the equalizing effects of unions, and have been doing so more stridently as inequality has risen and become central to the Democratic party's message. Building on earlier work, Madland and Freeman have been contributing some quantitative ammunition, first with a look at how children in more unionized regions and even those in union families have a better-than-average chance of climbing the economic ladder.
Here's what the math looks like:
Because people covered by union contracts both earn more and have more uniform earnings, they are more likely to be middle class, which the authors define as earning between 67 and 200 percent of median income, taking a cue from the Pew Research Center's parameters. Therefore, the decline in union coverage will disproportionately remove people from the middle class. That decline is responsible for 2.7 percentage points of the 7.6 point decrease in the share of workers included in the middle class between 1984 and 2014."
Here's what the math looks like:
Because people covered by union contracts both earn more and have more uniform earnings, they are more likely to be middle class, which the authors define as earning between 67 and 200 percent of median income, taking a cue from the Pew Research Center's parameters. Therefore, the decline in union coverage will disproportionately remove people from the middle class. That decline is responsible for 2.7 percentage points of the 7.6 point decrease in the share of workers included in the middle class between 1984 and 2014."
With public sector unions on the rocks, middle class may take another hit
Posted from washingtonpost.comPosted in these groups: 
Unions
Unions
Posted 9 y ago
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"Economists expect to find more union members in the middle class, whether or not unions causally contribute to it," Sherk says. "This study makes no effort to distinguish that correlation from causation."
In response, Madland refers to a number of of other studies that do suggest a causal relationship. "What this study is especially good at is showing that because there are fewer union members, there’s fewer people earning a middle-class income," he says. "And as unions have weakened, they have been less able to pull people up into the middle class."
UNIONS and collective bargaining are the tide that raises all boats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/05/AR [login to see] 814.html
In response, Madland refers to a number of of other studies that do suggest a causal relationship. "What this study is especially good at is showing that because there are fewer union members, there’s fewer people earning a middle-class income," he says. "And as unions have weakened, they have been less able to pull people up into the middle class."
UNIONS and collective bargaining are the tide that raises all boats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/05/AR [login to see] 814.html
E.J. Dionne Jr. - When unions mattered, prosperity was shared
Let's not forget all that the unions once achieved for employees across America.
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Capt Walter Miller
The GOP controlled Supreme Court is about to whack Unions, and overthrow a 40 year precedent.
Walt
Walt
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Capt Walter Miller
"All but forgotten is the fact that our nation's extraordinary prosperity from the end of World War II to the 1970s was in significant part the result of union contracts that, in words the right wing hated Barack Obama for saying in 2008, "spread the wealth around." A broad middle class with spending power to keep the economy moving created a virtuous cycle of low joblessness and high wages.
Between 1966 and 1970, as Gerald Seib pointed out last week in the Wall Street Journal, the United States enjoyed an astonishing 48 straight months in which the unemployment rate was at or below 4 percent. No, the unions didn't do all this by themselves. But they were important co-authors of a social contract that made our country fairer, richer and more productive."
Between 1966 and 1970, as Gerald Seib pointed out last week in the Wall Street Journal, the United States enjoyed an astonishing 48 straight months in which the unemployment rate was at or below 4 percent. No, the unions didn't do all this by themselves. But they were important co-authors of a social contract that made our country fairer, richer and more productive."
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