Union bargaining power in the USA has been in decline for decades, leading to non-union workers’ pay suffering, according to a new study.

Private-sector men in particular are seeing lower wages and benefits, as unionisation continues to decline.

The reports authors are Jake Rosenfeld (associate professor of Sociology at Washington University), Patrick Denice (post-doctoral research associate at Washington University) and Jennifer Laird (post-doctoral research scientist at the Centre on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University).

The report’s executive summary stated: “The analytical approaches summarised in this report enable us to assess the independent effects of union decline on wages and lend confidence to our core contention that private-sector union decline since the late 1970s has contributed to substantial wage losses among workers who do not belong to a union.

“Union decline has exacerbated wage inequality in the United States by dampening the pay of non-union workers, as well as by eroding the share of workers directly benefitting from unionisation.

“Re-building our system of collective bargaining is an important tool available for fuelling wage growth for both low- and middle-wage workers and ending the era of persistent wage stagnation.”