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Author: Agnone, Jon
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Agnone, Jon
Racial Inequality in Wealth: Do Labor Unions Matter?
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Washington, June 2010
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Benefits; Benefits, Fringe; Collective Bargaining; Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Hispanic Studies; Pensions; Racial Equality/Inequality; Racial Studies; Retirement/Retirement Planning; Unions; Wealth

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Extant scholarship has identified the paths of racial wealth inequality to be primarily due to income differences, differential rates of home ownership, and intergenerational wealth transfers. A separate area of scholarly inquiry has highlighted the importance of labor unions in raising wages, increasing the availability of fringe benefits, and increasing pension/retirement assets. Since minorities experience wage returns on par with whites under labor union contracts "which helps to narrow the racial wage gap" it is possible that labor union employment may also help ameliorate the well-documented racial wealth gap. Prior research has failed to examine the possible effect of labor union employment on racial differences in pension/retirement wealth, home ownership, or total wealth. In the first assessment of its kind, I argue for the importance of labor unions as a labor market institution, which can increase the ability of workers to accumulate wealth by providing stable employment, increased wages and increased access to non-wage packages. Representing the synthesis of disparate research areas, I use panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) from 1988 to 2004 to examine several ways in which unions can affect wealth by race for whites, blacks and Hispanics. The results suggest that labor union employment increases access to and enrollment in pension plans, and constricts the racial pension/retirement wealth gap by limiting white pension/retirement wealth. Labor union employment increases the likelihood of home ownership for all races, but does not have an effect on the home equity in that home. Finally, labor union employment similarly constricts the racial gaps for non-pension and total wealth, also by limiting the wealth accumulated by whites, but leaving the wealth of blacks and Hispanics unchanged. Collectively, the results of this dissertation find labor unions do impact wealth, but in ways not anticipated prior to analysis of empiri cal data.
Bibliography Citation
Agnone, Jon. Racial Inequality in Wealth: Do Labor Unions Matter? Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Washington, June 2010.
2. Agnone, Jon
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.
Bibliography Citation
Agnone, Jon. "Racial Inequality in Wealth: Do Labor Unions Matter?" Presented: Boston MA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2008.