Union density and European integration: diverging convergence

This article uses multivariate regression analysis to investigate trends in union density in western Europe in the period 1970-95. While countries with union-managed unemployment insurance schemes (Ghent system) saw density rates increase or at least remain stable, the others typically experienced a decline in unionisation. Economic factors (shifts in the structure of employment, and also the business cycle and internationalisation of trade) exert an influence, though less substantial, on changes in union density. The evidence is ambiguous as to the impact of European economic integration as such on unionisation.