Unions do not undermine international competitiveness

The claim is often made that unions are a potential drag on a country’s international competitiveness. Although there is no single, generally accepted measure of competitiveness with which to test such claims, many analysts use a country’s trade balance as a proxy for competitiveness. The figure below, which includes the United States and several of its rich industrial peers, examines the relationship between union coverage rates (the share of a nation’s workers covered by a union contract) and the current account balance (an indicator that captures the amount by which a country’s exports exceed its imports). (read more)

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