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Title: Racial Inequality in Wealth: Do Labor Unions Matter?
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Agnone, Jon |
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Racial Inequality in Wealth: Do Labor Unions Matter? Presented: Boston MA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2008 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: American Sociological Association Keyword(s): Benefits, Fringe; Collective Bargaining; Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Racial Equality/Inequality; Unions; Wealth Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. This project utilizes quantitative data from the NLSY79 to examine whether labor unions offer individual level wealth advantages to members above non-unionized workers. Labor scholars have noted several specific economic benefits of unions, such as increasing wages and access to pensions. However, scholarship has yet to address how labor unions may affect the wealth holdings of individuals working under a union contract. Separately, wealth scholars note that most Americans have little accumulated wealth, with the most common being housing equity and pension funds. Further, black households have significantly less wealth than comparable white households due to historical and contemporary factors that negatively impact life chances of black families. Uncovering a wealth premium accorded to unionism would be an important contribution to several areas of inquiry, as union membership may be an important factor in equalizing the wealth disparity between blacks and whites. As a part of my larger dissertation project, this paper will close by positing empirically informed theoretical considerations for both labor and wealth scholars, as well as delineating implications for the labor movement, public policy and poverty programs. |
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Bibliography Citation
Agnone, Jon. "Racial Inequality in Wealth: Do Labor Unions Matter?" Presented: Boston MA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2008. |