Economics and Law Journal

Primary Language
: TR
  • Orhan Karaca
The Impact of Unionization on Labor’s Share of Income in Turkey: 1990-2022

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of unionization on the share of labor in total income in Turkey. In the study, analyzes were performed for the period 1990-2022. Three alternative labor share indicators were calculated and the effect of unionization rate on these indicators was estimated using two models. The first model includes the logarithm of real GDP per worker and the ratio of the sum of exports and imports to GDP as control variables. The first of these is the indicator of technological change and the second is the indicator of globalization. In the second model, the change in the net minimum wage, inflation and economic growth are also included as control variables. ARDL models were used as econometric method, whether there is cointegration between the variables in the model was examined using the bounds test, and the long-run coefficients were calculated after determining the existence of this relationship. The findings show that unionization rate has a positive effect on the labor share in Turkey. It was also found evidence that globalization and technological change negatively affect the labor share. In addition, it was obtained findings that inflation has a negative impact on the labor share and a positive impact of the change in the net minimum wage. The findings indicate that the decrease in the labor share in Turkey in the last 30 years can be explained to a large extent by the decline in the unionization rate. In order to increase the labor share and improve income distribution, first of all, the obstacles to unionization must be removed.
Keywords : Labor share, income distribution, unionization

EXTENDED SUMMARY

The distribution of total income between labour and capital is basically determined as a result of the struggle between workers and employers. In this struggle, while employers are strong in money, workers are strong in numbers. But in order for numerical strength to be meaningful, the workers must be able to organise themselves and bargain collectively with the employers. Trade unions serve this purpose. The existence of unions is an indicator of the potential bargaining power of workers. For this reason, the share of labour in total income is expected to increase when the unionisation rate (the share of union members in the total number of employees and casual workers) increases, and this share is expected to decrease when the unionisation rate decreases.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of unionisation on the share of labour in total income in Turkey. The impact of unionisation on the labour share has not been empirically investigated in Turkey. There are only a few studies in the literature. Fichtenbaum (2009), using time series data for the US manufacturing sector between 1949 and 2006, found that unions have a positive effect on the income share of labour. Kristal (2010) found that unionisation and strike activity had a positive effect on labour’s share of total income in 16 developed countries over the period 1960-2015. Fichtenbaum (2011) concluded that unions have a positive effect on the labour share in his analysis of state-level manufacturing data for the period 1997-2006 in the US. Bengtsson (2014), examining the period 1960-2007 for 16 OECD countries, found a positive relationship between union density and wage share. Young and Zuleta (2018), analysing panel data for 35 industries in the US for the period 1983-2005, reported that union membership has a positive and statistically significant relationship with labour share.

In this study, analyses have been carried out for the period 1990-2022 in Turkey. The simplest measure of the labour share is the ratio of total compensation of employees to gross domestic product (GDP). However, since GDP includes taxes and subsidies on production and imports, the ratio of total compensation of employees to gross value added (GVA), which excludes taxes and subsidies, is often used instead. However, it is recognised in the literature that this method biases the labour share downwards. This is because compensation of employees only includes the income of employees. However, there are also self-employed. They receive a mixed income, partly from labour income and partly from capital income. In the literature, some adjusted labour share measures have been developed to take into account the labour income of the self-employed. For this reason, we have constructed two alternative labour share indicators in addition to the simple indicator. Thus, three labour share indicators were calculated and the effect of the unionisation rate on these indicators was estimated using two models. The first model includes the log of real GDP per worker and the ratio of the sum of exports and imports to GDP as control variables. The former is the indicator of technological change and the latter is the indicator of globalisation. In the second model, the change in the net minimum wage, inflation and economic growth are also included as control variables. ARDL models were used as the econometric method, the cointegration between the variables in the model was tested using the bounds test, and the long-run coefficients were calculated after determining the existence of this relationship.

The results show that the unionisation rate has a positive effect on the labour share in Turkey. There is also evidence that globalisation and technological change have a negative effect on the labour share. In addition, the results show that inflation has a negative effect on the labour share and that the change in the net minimum wage has a positive effect. The results suggest that the decline in the labour share in Turkey over the last 30 years can be explained to a large extent by the decline in the unionisation rate. In order to increase the labour share and improve income distribution, the obstacles to unionisation must first be removed. This will raise the unionisation rate, increase workers’ bargaining power vis-à-vis employers and allow the labour share to grow. The results also indicate that in order to improve income distribution in Turkey, it is necessary to control the openness of the economy and ensure price stability by fighting inflation.

Türkiye’de Sendikalaşmanın Emeğin Gelir Payı Üzerindeki Etkisi: 1990-2022

ÖZ

Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye’de sendikalaşmanın emeğin toplam gelirdeki payı üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktır. Çalışmada 1990-2022 dönemi için analizler yapılmıştır. Üç alternatif emek payı göstergesi hesaplanmış ve iki model kullanılarak sendikalaşma oranının bu göstergeler üzerindeki etkisi tahmin edilmiştir. Birinci model, kontrol değişkenleri olarak, çalışan başına reel GSYH’nin logaritması ile ihracat ve ithalat toplamının GSYH’ye oranını da içermektedir. Bunlardan birincisi teknolojik değişmenin ikincisi küreselleşmenin göstergesidir. İkinci modelde, net asgari ücretteki değişim, enflasyon ve ekonomik büyüme de kontrol değişkenleri olarak yer almaktadır. Ekonometrik yöntem olarak ARDL modelleri kullanılmış, modeldeki değişkenler arasında eşbütünleşme olup olmadığı sınır testi kullanılarak incelenmiş ve bu ilişkinin varlığı belirlendikten sonra uzun dönem katsayıları hesaplanmıştır. Bulgular Türkiye’de sendikalaşma oranının emek payı üzerinde pozitif etkisi olduğunu göstermektedir. Ayrıca küreselleşmenin ve teknolojik değişmenin emek payını negatif etkilediğine ilişkin kanıtlar bulunmuştur. Ek olarak, enflasyonun emek payı üzerinde negatif ve net asgari ücretteki değişmenin pozitif etkisi olduğuna ilişkin bulgular elde edilmiştir. Bulgular Türkiye’de son 30 yılda emek payında yaşanan düşüşün büyük ölçüde sendikalaşma oranındaki gerilemeyle açıklanabileceğine işaret etmektedir. Emek payını arttırmak ve gelir dağılımını iyileştirmek için öncelikle sendikalaşmanın önündeki engellerin kaldırılması gerekmektedir
Anahtar Kelimeler : ÖZEmek payı, gelir dağılımı, sendikalaşma

Cite This Article

APA
KARACA, O., & . ( 2023). The Impact of Unionization on Labor’s Share of Income in Turkey: 1990-2022. Çalışma ve Toplum, 3(78), 2229-2252. https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1325641