Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/302669 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17152
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the descriptive and substantive representation of workers through worker representatives, focusing on the selection of German works council representatives and their impact on worker outcomes. Becoming a professional representative leads to substantial wage gains for the elected, concentrated among blue-collar workers. Representatives are positively selected in terms of pre-election earnings and person fixed effects. They are more likely to have undergone vocational training, show greater interest in politics, and lean left politically compared to the employees they represent; blue-collar workers are close to proportionally represented among works councilors. Drawing on a retirement-IV strategy and event-study designs around council elections, we find that blue-collar representatives reduce involuntary separations, consistent with blue-collar workers placing stronger emphasis on job security.
Subjects: 
representation
works-councils
unions
blue-collar worker
JEL: 
J51
J53
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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