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Author: Shearer, Charles Livingston
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Shearer, Charles Livingston
Union Effects on Quit Rates and Training
Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University, 1981
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Collective Bargaining; Industrial Classification; Job Training; Quits; Unions; Wages

Prior studies have emphasized the way in which unions affect quit rates, but little research has been done on the effects of changes in the quit rate on training. This study is an attempt to fill that void by providing a measure for training that does not depend on proxy variables, and by examining the factors that determine the amount of training received. Union voice affects the quit rate as do increases in wages. The objective is to determine to what extent unionization and wage increases lower quits and in turn raise investments in firm-specific training. Using a neoclassical model of the profit maximizing firm, the factors affecting the demand for labor and training are determined. To test the reaction by the firm on the amounts of training provided in response to a decrease in quits induced by union voice and wages, three regression equations are used. One of data sets used was from the NLS of Older Men to test a set of regression equations. Results indicate that the kind of training offered by the firm is more oriented toward bringing the new worker up to par than to firm-specific training of currently employed workers. Once the impact of the union through voice and wage benefits lowers the quit rate, the firm will experience lower employment costs. The firm then faces the decision of whether to provide more specific training of employees to achieve efficiency gains. These gains can then pay a return to the firm which helps to fund the costs of the training as well as to defray the costs of collective bargaining.
Bibliography Citation
Shearer, Charles Livingston. Union Effects on Quit Rates and Training. Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University, 1981.