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Increases in wage inequality and atypical employment have occurred across post-industrial
economies in recent decades. Technological change, globalization, the employment shift
to services, and the decentralization of collective bargaining are commonly cited as causes.
I argue that where social democratic parties govern, and where employers and labor
remain highly organized, labor market dualism is mitigated. This should hold because
the organizational scope, centralization, and policymaking integration of labor and capital
facilitates the creation of post-industrial political coalitions necessary for egalitarian
policymaking and implementation by progressive governments, and organizationally blunts
insider politics by sectorally fragmented actors and excessive rent-seeking by narrow
interest groups. I draw on 1975 to 2011 annual data from 18 post-industrial democracies
and estimate models of labor market policy and performance. Findings support the
core argument: social democratic government has significant egalitarian impacts on
policies and performance at high levels of labor and employer organization. Some conventional explanations of dualism also receive support: technological change, trade penetration by developing countries, and deindustrialization are associated with inegalitarian
outcomes.
Keywords: wage dispersion, labor market policy, labor and business organization,
partisan politics, social democracy
JEL codes: D31, D63, E24, I38, J24, J31, J51
INTRODUCTION
* An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2013 Annual Meetings of the American
Political Science Association, August 29 to September 1, Chicago, IL, USA. I am grateful to
Marquette Universitys Committee on Research as well as the American Political Science
Association Small Research Grant Program for financial support of this project. I also thank
Molly Giese, Mujtaba Isani, and Darren Nah for exceptional research assistance and the journals
referees for very helpful comments. Finally, I acknowledge the debt this paper owes to my
collaborative work with Cathie Jo Martin on some of the issues addressed here.
2014 The Author
235
Conventional social science theory places the blame at the door of post-industrialization.
Technological change, globalization, the employment shift to services, trends in family
structure, and the decline of centralized collective bargaining are commonly cited as the
causes. Yet, as Emmenegger et al. (2012) note, the processes through which structural
pressures are translated into policies and outcomes are political. Indeed, my argument
is that where social democratic parties govern, and where employers and labor are
encompassing, centralized, and routinely participate in national policymaking forums,
labor market dualism is mitigated.1
While contested, the most persuasive theory suggests that the interests of low-wage
regular and atypical workers are more likely protected where traditionally egalitarian
social democratic parties rule. Yet the changing realities surrounding feasible political
coalitions in post-industrial societies suggest that the organization of labor and capital
is crucial. Not only should high levels of labor and employer organization have direct
positive effects on outsiders interests (see below on this unconventional view), organization should facilitate the creation of post-industrial political coalitions necessary
for egalitarian policymaking and implementation by progressive governments. The
organizational scope, centralization, and policymaking integration of labor and capital
also blunts insider politics by sectorally fragmented actors and excessive rent seeking
by narrow interest groups common to pluralist political economies.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, I offer an overview of trends in
labor market inequalities and the conventional theories that purport to explain the
trends. In Section 3, I elaborate my argument on the foundational role played by politics in shaping policies and outcomes. In Section 4, I draw on 19752011 annual data
from 18 nations to provide empirical analyses of the impacts of partisan government,
the organization of labor and capital, and their interaction on wage inequality, atypical
employment, and two dimensions of policy that should mitigate dualism, namely
active labor market programs (hereafter ALMP) and the social wage offered to outsiders. I conclude in Section 5 by assessing the relative power of the theories and future
labor market trajectories.
2
I display two familiar labor market outcomes by nation type in Table 1.2 These are the
earnings ratio of workers at the 90th and 10th percentiles of the wage distribution and
the percentage of total employment accounted for by involuntary part-time jobs. As the
OECD (2011) has noted, both high-wage and low-wage workers have been moving
away from the median earner in the majority of advanced economies and, thus, the
90/10 ratio offers a convenient summary indicator of trends. The employment share
of involuntary part-time jobs generally reflects moves toward more temporary and
part-time work and, by isolating involuntary workers, taps the extent of undesirable
irregular employment.
1. I follow Rueda (2007) and label workers in the lowest wage tiers of regular employment
and irregular jobs (disproportionately the low skilled, women, younger workers, and immigrants) outsiders; workers in middle and higher wage regular employment are called insiders.
I conventionally label this bifurcation of the labor market, dualism.
2. See Hall and Soskice (2001) and Martin and Swank (2012) on the varieties of capitalism
framework.
2014 The Author
236
Table 1
Nordic politcal
economies
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Mean
Continental Europe
and Japan
Austria
Belgium
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Switzerland
Mean
Anglo-liberal
market economies
Australia
Canada
Ireland
New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States
Mean
198486
200508
Annual %
198486
200508
Annual %
2.19
2.49
1.95c
2.05
2.17
2.69
2.53
2.22
2.31
2.44
0.96
0.12
0.93
0.65
0.66
2.3
1.9
3.0
2.4
1.8
1.2
2.7
1.9
0.6
1.0
1.5
0.4
2.43
3.12
2.89
2.22
3.14
2.49
2.41c
2.67
2.34
2.91
3.27
2.31
3.02
2.91
2.67
2.77
0.26
0.29
0.48
0.15
0.12
0.89
0.69
0.22
0.1c
0.5
2.6c
0.7
0.8
1.2
2.3c
0.2c
1.0
1.7
2.8
3.8
4.2
4.0
4.6
1.3
1.5
3.0
13.1
3.4
3.7
9.8
8.1
11.6
2.4
16.4
7.9
2.83
4.36
4.06
2.15
3.20
4.16
3.46
3.29
3.74
3.81
2.89
3.61
4.88
3.70
0.58
0.41
0.31
1.29
0.62
0.80
0.43
4.2
0.2
2.1
1.7
2.0
4.3
1.2
3.8
2.3
2.9
0.3
2.6
4.2
3.0
3.4
Notes:
a
Table 1 reports 19841986 to 20052008 means and 1984 to 2008 average annual percentage changes.
b
Involuntary part-time employment as a percentage of total employment.
c
Mean for 19911993.
2.1
237
A substantial literature has emerged to explain the rise of labor market inequalities.
Globalization has been central to most inquiries. As Wood (1994) famously argued,
HeckscherOhlin/StolperSamuelson models with factor price convergence suggest
that trade penetration of advanced economies by developing nations will depress the
earnings of semi- and unskilled workers in rich countries. Relatedly, Alderson and
Nielson (2002) and others have argued that the dramatic rise of capital mobility
especially the prospect of foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows has adverse
employment and wage-bargaining impacts on labor. Yet most research has questioned these inegalitarian effects of globalization (for example, IMF 2007; OECD
2008; 2011). Instead, much of the recent literature has stressed that skill-biased technological change has been at the heart of rises of wage inequality; technological
changes reward the highest skill and educational levels in the workforce and displace
middle and lower income employees engaged in routine tasks (see Kierzenkowski
and Koske 2012).
In addition, in the well-known argument by Harrison and Bluestone (1988), deindustrialization, or the employment shift from relatively equal and high-paying manufacturing jobs to unequal and excessively low-paying service sector employment,
fosters wage dispersion and irregular employment. Concomitant with globalization
and deindustrialization, the decline in the centralization and coverage of bargaining
may have weakened the institutional pressure for wage compression (Wallerstein
1999; Beramendi and Cusack 2008; OECD 2011).
Finally, scholars have acknowledged the importance of policy reforms in shaping
labor market dualism; this set of factors is central to the argument made here about
politics.3 First, most recent studies have stressed the role of human capital-promoting
policies (ALMP and education) in mitigating dualism; where human capital programs
receive resources and careful design, earnings inequality declines (Kierzenkowski and
Koske 2012; OECD 2011). In addition, an egalitarian social wage mitigates dualism.
This is so because a higher social wage raises the wage floor in labor markets (OECD
2008; 2011) and it alleviates the scarring effect of unemployment on workers skills
(Nelson and Stephens 2013). The way labor market reforms such as deregulation of
job security provisions and expansions of temporary and part-time contracts are structured also plays a crucial role in dualism; where these reforms are coupled with extensions of collective bargaining and social insurance coverage, for instance, evidence
indicates that outsiders receive higher pay and face a diminished risk of unemployment
(Koske et al. 2012).4
In sum, extant theory and evidence suggest a number of factors in all likelihood
played a role in the general rise of labor market dualism in post-industrial economies.
But what about politics?
238
3
3.1
In the 1970s and 1980s, scholars stressed contra the end of ideology thesis that
labor market interventions in advanced political economies were notably shaped by
government control by class-based parties (see Swank 2013 for a review of the major
works). Both social and Christian democratic parties fostered the development of
generous social insurance systems, while social democracy also promoted public
service provision and government employment (Huber and Stephens 2001). Thus,
traditional partisan theory predicts social democratic governments should be most
likely to promote human capital formation, an ample social wage, and an equitable
structure of labor market reforms. Yet in the wake of 1970s and 1980s economic
crises and post-industrialization, a new body of scholarship led by Paul Pierson
(1994; 1996) questioned partisan effects on social policies. In the view of Pierson
and similar thinkers, the new politics of social policy under post-industrial
pressures for austerity and efficiency entailed the politically challenging task of
reducing concentrated benefits to well-defined, mobilized constituencies in return
for future, diffuse benefits. Given continued political support for social transfers
and services, incumbent governments had to engage in the politics of blame avoidance where the success of reform depends on the character of program constituencies, the depth of lock-in effects of social programs, and related programmatic
factors (for instance, the degree to which constituency groups can be politically
divided).
Complementing the new politics framework, Iversen and Wren (1998) argue
that social democratic parties face a trilemma where government may foster earnings equality and employment levels in the face of post-industrialization but not
simultaneously maintain fiscal restraint (as pursuit of the first two goals adds to fiscal
imbalances). The social democratic policy regime is also challenged by international
capital mobility as capital market integration may result in a loss of economic policy
control and, hence, of state capacity to maintain the low unemployment essential to a
generous welfare state (Huber and Stephens 2001). Finally, David Rueda (2007) has
argued that the division between insiders and outsiders in post-industrial labor markets politically undercuts social democracy: insiders have an interest in the continuation of employment protection and the moderation of tax burdens on labor income,
while outsiders favor both income transfers for short-term security and active labor
market programs for reintegration into regular employment. Rueda argues that in the
absence of rises in risks to insiders, social democratic parties will maintain job protection and tax moderation but not enhanced income supports and ALMP that benefit
outsiders.
In response, Korpi and Palme (2003) argue that alternation in power of classbased parties is still highly relevant to post-industrial politics of economic and social
policy. The differential distribution of physical and human capital still influences
social policy preferences across business and labor and between strata of workers;
the post-industrial welfare state still fundamentally affects the distribution of
incomes and security. Parties still represent class-based constituencies and
reflect class-based conflicts. In fact, recent studies highlight the significance
of incomes and exposure to risks for individual preferences for social insurance
239
and redistribution (Rehm 2011). In turn, preferences for transfers and taxes
notably influence citizens partisan identification in post-industrial societies
(Cusack et al. 2006).5
Yet the aforementioned work of Rueda (2007) highlights the increasingly divisive
social policy conflicts between insiders and outsiders and the political problems these
divisions create for social democracy. Similarly, Iversen and Soskice (2009) make the
important point that in the post-industrial production process, skilled and unskilled
workers heretofore closely linked within industrial enterprises and politically connected in a progressive coalition are increasingly dispersed across firms and sectors.
I argue, however, that where labor and capital remain relatively highly organized, progressive parties can nonetheless blunt dualism.
3.2
The organization of labor unions and employers associations beyond coverage and
centralization of collective bargaining is likely to have direct political effects on
labor market inequalities; it should also play a central mediating role by facilitating
social democratic parties pursuit of enhanced human capital policies, of an egalitarian
social wage, and of an equitable structure of labor market deregulations.6 For both
labor and employers, organization is defined as the density of organization of potential
members, centralization of power in national peak associations (for instance, power
over constituent unions or employers strategies), and regularized integration of
labor and capital into public policymaking forums.
3.2.1
5. Huo et al. (2008), Iversen and Soskice (2009), and others provide additional theory and
evidence on social democratic government impacts on outsider-related policy and performance
(also see Swank 2013). While scholars recognize the movement to the center of social democratic parties in the face of post-industrial pressures (Inglehart 1990), substantial research indicates continued, systematic economic and social policy differences across left and right parties
(Adams et al. 2009; Schmidt 2010; Burgoon 2012).
6. I advance a general version of the notion that social democratic governments impacts on
social welfare are increasingly dependent on the institutions of coordinated economies in Swank
(2013); I build on that argument here.
2014 The Author
240
the public interest. Indeed, in our analyses of the policy preferences of employers in
highly organized Denmark and pluralist Britain, we found Danish employers much
more likely to assume responsibility for labor market outsiders and to participate in
the implementation of programs for training than British firms (Martin and Swank
2012, ch. 8). A comparative analysis of German employers also reveals that sectorally
organized business in Germany notably fell behind Danish firms in responsibility and
ALMP participation (Nelson unpublished).7
In addition, post-industrialization increasingly fragments employers between those
who produce for internationally competitive versus sheltered markets and between
those who employ high-, medium-, or low-skilled workers. In this context, strong
employer organization contributes to the likelihood that progressive governments
can construct a coalition of business (for instance, public sector, core manufacturing,
and low-skill service sector employers) that supports relatively equitable reforms of
social insurance and expansions of programs that enhance human capital. Moreover,
high employer organization provides social democratic governments with an institutional mechanism by which business can be mobilized in support of progressive
reforms.
As business organization declines, however, the benefits of encompassing and centralized organization are progressively lost. Thus, as Martin and I suggest, the sectoral
organization of employers tends to result in insideroutsider policies and outcomes.
That is, even where employers are well organized within industrial sectors such as chemicals, metal working, and so forth, they have little incentive to cooperate in national
coalitions to fight dualism, but only to work to protect the benefits of their own workers (Martin and Swank 2012, esp. ch. 11). Where pluralism reigns (for example, in the
United States), one is likely to see extensive rent-seeking behavior as narrow business
interest groups, and shifting coalitions of them, seek to enhance their economic positions and incomes through the political process; in the post-industrial context of market
shifts of income to high-income earners and mobile business and of the decline of
unions, the result is a pronounced increase in inegalitarian policies and outcomes
(Hacker and Pierson 2010; Stiglitz 2012).
3.2.2
National trade union movements have played a seminal role in the twentieth century
welfare state development and reduction of income inequalities in industrial capitalism
(for example, Stephens 1979; Korpi 1983; Hicks 1999); some scholars also stress that
union organization continues to bolster national systems of social protection,
7. One might argue that under pressures of post-industrialization (for example, greater global
competition), firms pursue their immediate interests in lower unit labor costs by pushing for
labor market liberalization, tax cuts, and welfare retrenchments. Acquiescence to ALMP, itself,
simply reflects the fact that firms rationally decide to take advantage of state subsidies for wages
and training costs. The argument made in this paper recognizes that firms are likely to behave in
this manner at low levels of employer organization. At high levels of organization, however,
enterprises tend to pursue a long-term, human-capital-based strategy for greater worker productivity, recognize business responsibility to assist in programs for outsiders, and participate in
programs that require enterprises to commit significant time and resources to training the
unskilled and long-term unemployed. See Martin and Swank (2012) for extensive firm-level survey research and case studies on these points.
2014 The Author
241
employment security, and redistribution in the face of globalization and deindustrialization (for example, Garrett 1998; Swank 2002; Kwon and Pontusson 2010).
On the other hand, post-industrialization threatens the density, centralization, and
participation in policy concertation of both labor and capital.8 Some scholars have
argued that even where unions remain relatively strong, they tend to be dominated
by the interests of labor market insiders. For instance, Palier (2012), Thelen (2012),
and others note that this is the very pattern we observe in post-1970s reform politics
throughout much of continental Europe. With regard to Japan, Song (2012) points out
that a coalition of core sector unions, large firms, and conservative policymakers produced largely insider-oriented social and labor market reforms in recent decades. At
the same time, Bonoli (2006), Ebbinghaus (2006), and others point out that where
unions remain relatively encompassing (Nordic countries and Belgium), public sector
and low-wage service sector unions (and hence women, younger, and low-skilled
workers) are represented alongside industrial and white collar unions within the
union movement. All things considered, I hypothesize that union organization should
have a direct, positive impact on policies addressing new social risks and the needs of
outsiders.9
The level of union organization should also enhance social democratic parties
impacts on policies that promote human capital development, social protection for outsiders, and equitable labor market reforms. This is so for two reasons. The first
mechanism is relatively well understood: labor organization facilitates wage restraint
and related adaptive behavior by unions which, in turn, mitigates inflation and inefficiencies that are possible with social democratic spending initiatives for social protection and human and physical capital (Garrett 1998; Beramendi and Cusack 2008;
Kwon and Pontusson 2010). In addition, from the perspective of post-industrial politics, high union organization increases the likelihood that social democratic governments can build an egalitarian coalition of public and private sector unions and of
unions with relatively high- and low-skilled workers. Again, highly organized unions
are likely to represent outsiders as well as insiders in corporatist policymaking forums
and to mobilize electorally insiders and outsiders in support of more egalitarian policy
change. As such, left-wing governments have the political base to more equitably
reform social insurance and labor market regulation as well as to expand social services to blunt labor market dualism.10
In sum, politics and institutions should matter. Net of post-industrial pressures and
formal labor market institutions, social democratic governments should mitigate labor
market dualism relative to center-right incumbents and high levels of employer and
labor organization should directly promote policies that mitigate wage inequality
8. See Martin and Swank (2012, ch. 7) for a survey of the large literature on the organizational decline of labor and employers.
9. Case study evidence suggests that union organization does promote inclusiveness; yet tensions remain. For instance, Davidsson and Emmenegger (2012)note that in the face of 1990s and
2000s employer and government efforts to liberalize Swedish labor markets, the LO (Landsorganisationen) initially fought to defend both insider and outsider interests. The LO, however,
ultimately acquiesced to liberalization of temporary employment in return for continuation of
pro-insider last in, first out firing provisions.
10. As Kitschelt and Rehm (2006) have noted, construction of a durable electoral coalition of
insiders and outsiders can be difficult; for instance, social democratic parties may face significant tensions between (disproportionately male) low-skilled blue collar workers and women on
cultural issues.
2014 The Author
242
Employer
organization
Human capital
investment (training,
education)
Generosity of social
wage for outsiders
Social democratic
government
Union
organization
Figure 1
Degree of equity in
labour market reform
(coverage, legal rights
for irregular jobs)
Wage
inequality
Atypical
employment
and low quality atypical employment. Most important, high levels of organization of
capital and labor should politically and organizationally facilitate the construction of
political coalitions that undergird the making and implementation of pro-outsider policies by social democratic governments. The core theoretical relationships are displayed
in Figure 1.
243
14. These model specification decisions are based on theory, and justified by estimations that,
for instance, include excluded variables.
2014 The Author
244
per-capita GDP, and report levels or growth rates based on their significance in preliminary tests. All these variables are lagged 1 year.
To assess the institutionally contingent effects of partisan government, I estimate
Equation (1) with a series of interaction terms; the equation for each labor market policy or outcome for the impact of Social Democratic Government as mediated by Labor
Organization is as follows:
Labor Market Policy=Outcomei;t 1 Trade Penetration Developing Cos:i;t1
10 Employer Organizationi;t1
11 Social Democratic Govt Labor Organizationi; t1
i;t :
Similar equations are estimated for Social Democratic Government and Employer
Organization.
For estimation of all models, I use PraisWinsten regression with first-order serial
correlation and panel correct standard errors (Beck and Katz 1996). In addition, as the
time series occasionally begin after 1975 or end before 2011, I use a standard technique for unbalanced panels where elements of the variancecovariance matrix are computed with all available pairs of panels. Finally, F-tests suggest unit (country) fixed
effects might be included, and I include them for three or the four explananda. I do
not use a fixed effects estimator for the social wage, as variation in this indicator is
heavily cross-national. A model without unit effects explains nearly 80 percent in
the variation in the social wage for outsiders and, thus, omitted-variable bias due to
exclusion of unit effects should be minimal.
4.1
Findings
The results of estimation of models of labor market policy are displayed in Table 2.
With respect to control variables, deindustrialization facilitates activation in labor market policy: the decline of employment in traditional sectors is associated with greater
resource commitments to ALMP and a decrease in passive income assistance. Economic downturn bolsters spending for labor market policies: a fall in per-capita
GDP generates ALMP spending while rises in unemployment buoy the generosity
of the social wage. Finally, there exists limited evidence that a rightward shift in the
ideological orientation of the median voter is associated with activation, or more
ALMP spending and lower income replacement rates for unemployment compensation
(my unreported alternative measure of the social wage).
The bottom half of Table 2 reports core findings for the labor market policy impacts
of party government, the organization of capital and labor, and their interaction. I also
report derived marginal impacts of social democratic government at low and high
levels of labor and employer organization.15 With respect to ALMP spending, variations in social democratic government and employer organization have significant
15. Based on significance, substantive magnitude, and robustness of partisan policy impacts,
I report effects of short-term party government on ALMP spending and long-term partisan government on the social wage. For derivation of marginal effects of partisan government, I use the
level of labor and employer organization in 1990s Denmark and Sweden for high levels of
organization, and levels in 1990s Britain and New Zealand for low levels of organization.
See Kam and Franzese (2007) for an excellent synopsis of interactions.
2014 The Author
245
positive impacts on policy (although union organization does not have a direct impact).
As hypothesized, the impact of social democracy is mediated by the presence of relatively highly organized capital and labor. The effect on ALMP spending (as a percentage of GDP) of a shift from a 0.0 to 100 percent share of cabinet portfolios by social
democratic parties is roughly 0.15 at high levels of union or employer organization.16
Given that the mean of ALMP spending over the sample country years is 0.8, the substantive magnitude of this impact is not trivial.
Turning to the social wage for outsiders, Table 2 illustrates that social democratic
government and the organization of employers have direct positive impacts on the
social wage.17 Similar to ALMP, social democratic government is better able to bolster
pro-outsider policy at relatively high levels of union organization. On the other hand,
there is no mediation of social democratic government effects by employer organization. Given theory, this is not surprising: high employer organization is important to
the making and implementation of human capital policies while it is less crucial
than union organization to social democracy for promotion of income maintenance
for outsiders.
Table 3 reports the results for wage inequality and atypical employment. In column I,
I report the basic model which estimates direct partisan and labor and capital organization effects. The second and third columns present estimates of the institutionally
mediated impacts of partisan government on wage inequality. For wage inequality,
trade penetration by developing countries and technological change increase wage dispersion while bargaining coverage significantly lessens it. Bargaining coordination (or
level) is not, however, related to wage inequality. With regard to direct impacts of
political forces, the column I model suggests that union organization is the only factor
that clearly matters. When we turn to institutionally mediated impacts of social democratic government, however, there is a significant interaction between social democratic
government and union organization. The wage impacts of social democratic government
are trivial at low levels of union organization but they are marginally significant when
union organization is moderately high. With regard to capital, social democratic governments significantly reduce wage inequality where employers are relatively well organized. This result, coupled with findings on employers and ALMP, suggests that the
capacity of social democratic parties to make and implement training and related policies
to benefit outsiders employment and earnings capabilities is, indeed, contingent on well
organized employers that cooperate with public human capital initiatives. Martin and
Swanks (2012) country studies and surveys of business firms add clear corroborating
evidence on this point.
Results for involuntary part-time employment are displayed in the second set of columns. Findings indicate that increases in low quality irregular employment are, in part,
driven by deindustrialization, slow economic growth, and, with less certainty, trade
penetration by developing countries. On the other hand, FDI outflows depress the
rise of involuntary part-time workers. This somewhat unexpected finding is possibly
the result of the positive employment impact of inflows of FDI which outflows closely proxy (IMF 2007; OECD 2011). As to politics, both social and Christian democratic parties decrease involuntary part-time jobs. On the other hand, union
16. There are no significant interactions between union or capital organization and Christian
democratic governments in any of the models.
17. Estimation of the model for the income replacement rate for unemployment compensation
replicates these findings and produces a direct, positive, and significant impact of union organization on the social wage.
2014 The Author
Ideological position of
median votert1
Partisan Govt and the
Organ. of Labor/Capital
Social democratic
government
Christian democratic
government
Unemployment ratet1
II
0.9914
(0.8022)
0.0011
(0.0016)
0.0001
(0.0003)
0.0320**
(0.0101)
0.0084
(0.0103)
0.0155**
(0.0064)
0.0033**
(0.0017)
0.0006
(0.0005)
0.0003
(0.0014)
I
0.9573
(0.8081)
0.0011
(0.0016)
0.0001
(0.0003)
0.0311**
(0.0103)
0.0086
(0.0104)
0.0158**
(0.0066)
0.0022**
(0.0017)
0.0007*
(0.0005)
0.0007
(0.0013)
0.0004
(0.0005)
0.0005
(0.0014)
1.0003
(0.8089)
0.0014
(0.0016)
0.0001
(0.0003)
0.0357**
(0.0103)
0.0081
(0.0104)
0.0162**
(0.0065)
0.0031
(0.0067)
III
0.0242*
(0.0194)
0.0292
(0.0278
0.0268*
(0.0196)
0.0218
(0.0277)
0.9699**
(0.1939)
0.5126**
(0.1856)
0.0002*
(0.0001)
0.0146
(0.0366)
13.6354
(13.3924)
0.0155
(0.0311)
16.4576
(13.3556)
0.0128
(0.0309)
0.9740**
(0.1937)
0.4874**
(0.1858)
0.0002**
(0.0001)
0.0148
(0.0367)
II
III
0.0244*
(0.0193)
0.0368*
(0.0280)
0.9814**
(0.1919)
0.4741**
(0.1863)
0.0002*
(0.0001)
0.0158
(0.0368)
18.8592*
(13.5109)
0.0120
(0.0311)
The political sources of ALMP and the social wage in 18 post-industrial democracies, 19802010
Table 2
246
Review of Keynesian Economics, Vol. 2 No. 2
0.0016**
(0.0009)
1.1093
467
0.4851
1.0207
467
0.4712
ns
0.0612
(0.0560)
0.4471**
(0.1465)
0.0011**
(0.0005)
0.0327
(0.0526)
0.4416**
(0.4416)
1.1891
467
0.4831
0.0015**
(0.0009)
ns
0.0010a
(0.0008)
0.0258
(0.0528)
0.4246**
(0.1511)
115.5728
357
0.7650
0.6558
(0.9634)
4.0237**
(1.2400)
114.6126
357
0.7675
0.0624**
(0.0318)
ns
0.6411
(1.2006)
4.2876**
(1.1212)
0.0324**
(0.0185)
116.4497
357
0.7671
0.0267
(0.0248)
0.6148
(0.9519)
4.9091**
(1.3312)
Notes: Models are estimated with annual 19802010 (19902009 for minimum social wage) data for 18 advanced democracies by PraisWinsten regression. The table
reports unstandardized regression coefficients and panel-correct standard errors. Fixed effects, utilized for ALMP estimation, are not reported. * significance at the 0.10
level; ** significance at the 0.05 level or below. a sign. = 0.11.
Constant
Observations
R2
Employer organizationt1
Union organizationt1
247
Tripartismt1
Employer organizationt1
Bargaining coveraget1
0.0001
(0.0004)
0.0003
(0.0010)
0.0731**
(0.0392)
0.0320
(0.0262)
0.7263**
(0.4121)
0.0005
(0.0006)
0.0003**
(0.0001)
0.0025
(0.0072)
0.0015
(0.0019)
0.0020
(0.0062)
0.0075**
(0.0015)
0.0001
(0.0005)
0.0002
(0.0010)
0.0517
(0.0411)
0.0333
(0.0267)
0.7232**
(0.4113)
0.0005
(0.0006)
0.0003**
(0.0001)
0.0021
(0.0032)
0.0014
(0.0019)
0.0019
(0.0061)
0.0075**
(0.0015)
II
Wage inequality
0.0002
(0.0005)
0.0002
(0.0011)
0.0759**
(0.0393)
0.0778**
(0.0373)
0.6921**
(0.4119)
0.0005
(0.0006)
0.0003**
(0.0001)
0.0016
(0.0033)
0.0015
(0.0019)
0.0025
(0.0061)
0.0074**
(0.0015)
III
0.0007
(0.0059)
0.0111*
(0.0082)
0.3056
(0.3018)
0.7454*
(0.3947)
0.6416
(0.4079)
0.1882**
(0.0343)
0.0177*
(0.0122)
0.1776**
(0.0363)
0.0197**
(0.0119)
0.0072*
(0.0056)
0.0141**
(0.0083)
0.2059
(0.2915)
0.7772*
(0.4327)
3.3436
(3.1515)
0.0206**
(0.0071)
II
3.9463*
(3.1370)
0.0212**
(0.0070)
III
0.0050
(0.0089)
0.0073
(0.0095)
0.1371
(0.2961)
1.9142**
(0.7491)
0.1906**
(0.0362)
0.0217**
(0.0118)
4.0010*
(3.0582)
0.0208**
(0.0067)
The political sources of wage inequality and atypical employment in 18 post-industrial democracies, 19752011
Table 3
248
Review of Keynesian Economics, Vol. 2 No. 2
ns
0.0008a
(0.0007)
4.1791
520
0.9127
4.2389
520
0.9129
0.0006*
(0.0004)
4.3215
520
0.9129
0.0011*
(0.0007)
ns
0.0011**
(0.0006)
12.2282
271
0.1653
11.9726
271
0.2200
0.0192**
(0.0069)
ns
0.0148**
(0.0052)
12.5000
271
0.1768
0.0137**
(0.0060)
ns
0.0171**
(0.0086)
Notes: Models are estimated with annual 19752011 data for 18 advanced democracies by PraisWinsten regression. The table reports unstandardized regression coefficients
and panel-correct standard errors. Fixed effects are included but not reported. * significance at the 0.10 level; ** significance at the 0.05 level or below. a probability = 0.13.
Constant
Observations
R2
249
250
CONCLUSIONS
251
Mediation of social
democratic government
impacts by:
Union Organization
Employer Organization
Direct policy and performance impacts of:
Social Democratic
Government
Union Organization
Employer Organization
ALMP
Social
wage
Wage
inequality
Irregular
jobs
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No*
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes**
Notes:
* Substitution of tripartism for union organization results in significant interaction between social democratic
government and institutional context. (Low-quality part-time employment is reduced by social democratic
governments at high levels of tripartite policy coordination.)
** Positive and significant direct impact of employer organization on low quality part-time jobs.
democratic incumbents also have egalitarian effects on ALMP, the social wage, and
wage inequality at high levels of union organization. With the maintenance of high
levels of tripartite cooperation between labor, capital, and the state, social democratic
governments lower the growth of low-quality irregular jobs.
At the same time, there are clear signs that post-industrial political realities and the
magnitude of economic changes create severe difficulties for egalitarian actors, even
under the best of circumstances. The scope, centralization, and policymaking integration of the union movement itself does not directly promote more ALMP, a higher
social wage for outsiders, or less irregular employment; this pattern of results almost
certainly reflects insideroutsider conflicts that exist even in the more encompassing
labor movements. In addition, while well-organized employers are clearly central to
efforts to mitigate dualism, private firms everywhere push for greater labor market
flexibility and generally enhanced market efficiencies. Moreover, as Martin and I
(2012, ch. 7) have pointed out, post-industrial politico-economic changes (for instance,
the decline of unionization and greater international integration of markets) continue to
apply downward pressure on the scope and centralization of peak employer associations.20 All things considered, progressive governments, collective actors, and citizens
can point to successes in stemming and even reversing rises of labor market inequalities; they also have reason for serious concern, especially in societies whose institutions increasingly favor insider politics and extensive rent-seeking by narrowly
organized economic interests.
20. For example, in moderately well-organized countries such as Germany, the political and
organizational interests of small and medium sized enterprises have increasingly diverged
from the interests of large firms with post-industrialization. The result has been a decline in
employer organization density and centralization as well as in broader institutional coordination
(Streeck 2009; Martin and Swank 2012, ch. 11).
2014 The Author
252
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255
90/10 Ratio: Ratio of earnings for workers at the 90th and 10th percentiles of the wage
distribution. (90/50 and 50/10 ratios also computed and used for supplementary
analysis.) Source: OECD iLibrary (Earnings Data Base).
Involuntary Part-Time Employment: Involuntary part-time workers as a share of total
employment. Source: OECD iLibrary (Employment and Labor Market Statistics Data
Base).
Politics
Party Government: Percentage of cabinet portfolios held by social and Christian
democratic parties. Source for party portfolios: Browne and Dreijmanis (1982);
Political Data Yearbooks in annual issues of European Journal of Political
Research. Source for classification of parties: Castles and Mair (1984); countryspecific sources.
Union Organization: Standard score index of union density, 0.0 to 4.0 scale of centralization of powers in the largest national peak association (control of affiliate
appointments, control over strikes, collective bargaining strategy, conflict funds),
and 0.0 to 1.0 scale of integration of unions into public policymaking forums.
Source: all variables are from Visser (2011).
Employer Organization: Standard score index of presence of national employers
peak association, 0.0 to 4.0 scale of powers of the peak (affiliate appointments, control over lockouts, collective bargaining strategy, conflict funds), and 0.0 to 2.0 scale
of integration of employers organization into national policymaking forums.
Source for presence of peak national employers confederation: Data for 19551992:
Golden et al. (2009); for 19931997: Traxler et al. (2001); for late 1990s2010: Traxler and Humer (2007), country specific sources and labor and industrial relations
periodicals.
Source for powers of national peak employers confederation: Data for 19551992:
Golden et al. (2009); for 19931997: Traxler et al. (2001); for late 1990s2010: Traxler and Humer (2007), country specific sources and labor and industrial relations
periodicals.
Source for employer peak association participation in corporatist (legislative and
bureaucratic) forums for formulation and implementation of public policy (for example, corporatist boards in labor market policies, industrial policy, and related areas).
Scored on a 0.0 to 1.0 ordinal scale where 0.0 indicates limited employer peak engagement and 1.0 indicates widespread employer peak engagement. Source: for 1970s
1997, Traxler et al. (2001); for late 1990s2010: Traxler and Humer (2007), country
specific sources and labor and industrial relations periodicals.
Tripartism: Standard score index of the presence of a tripartite (labor, employers, government) social and economic policy council, bipartite employers and labor council, and
regularized government consultation of labor and employers. Source: all variables are
from Visser (2011).
Ideological Position of the Median Voter: A measure of ideological position of the
median voter developed by Kim and Fording (2003), where the median voter position
2014 The Author
256
is estimated from grouped party vote data, and parties ideology is given by the
26-dimension party manifesto ideological score. The median voter position is
expressed on a 0.0 to 100 scale. Source: for ideological position of parties during
the 19732003 period, unpublished updates of manifesto data were provided by HeeMin Kim, Florida State University, in 2006; 20042010 updates and extensions from
Volkens et al. (2013).
257