Volume 59, Issue 4 p. 563-603
Original Article

The Effects of Teachers’ Unions on the Gender Pay Gap among U.S. Public School Teachers

Eunice S. Han,

Corresponding Author

Eunice S. Han

The author’s affiliation is University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. E-mail: eunice.han@economics.utah.edu. The author thanks the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) for providing the necessary facilities and assistance. The author also thanks the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for kindly providing the data. The views expressed herein are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBER or the NCES.Search for more papers by this author
First published: 22 November 2020
Citations: 2

Abstract

This study examines the effect of teachers’ unions on the gender pay gap among teachers under various legal environments, using nationally representative district–teacher matched data. To identify union effects, I employ propensity score matching, considering both contractual status and teacher union density in each district as a treatment. I find that teachers’ unions significantly reduce the gender pay gap, and the union effects vary by legal environment. I also find that unions reduce teacher attrition for female teachers, but not for male teachers, thereby decreasing the gender pay gap by helping female teachers accumulate experience.

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