Union decline cannot be blamed mainly on industrial-to-service economic shifts

Evidence

In fact, however, the strictly economic change from an industrial to a service economy is only about one-quarter of the story, and all these structural changes together account for barely half of the total decline in union membership. In other words, even within specific jobs and industries, the fraction of the workforce that is unionized has fallen sharply over the last four decades. Between 1953 and 1997 union membership rates declined by 62 percent within manufacturing, by 79 percent within mining, by 78 percent within construction, by 60 percent within transportation, and by 40 percent within the service sector. The only sector to resist this ebbing tide even temporarily was government employment, in which unionization increased sharply for a decade and a half between 1962 and 1979, following a legal change in the basis for collective bargaining in the executive branch introduced by the Kennedy administration. However, over the last two decades even in the public sector union membership has been stagnant. Union decline is not mainly a result of the bleaching of blue collars into white collars. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 265

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader argument (in this book and elsewhere) that structural economic explanations underdetermine social-connection declines — a pattern echoed in Coleman’s and Milgrom’s institutional accounts of how social structure gets eroded. — connects to: Union decline reflects weakened attachment to membership itself, not unions specifically — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 267; Service economies rely on wage suppression because productivity gains are limited — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 116; Financialization may be a root cause behind union decline and offshoring — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 185 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Union decline reflects weakened attachment to membership itself, not unions specifically #complicates (0.75) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 267
• Service economies rely on wage suppression because productivity gains are limited #qualifies (0.70) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 116