Explaining the Younger– Older Worker Union Density Gap: Evidence from New Zealand

This paper uses two recent large‐scale surveys in New Zealand to test the various reasons given for lower rates of union membership among younger workers. Younger workers’ disproportionate location in smaller workplaces and those industries where union reach is lowest accounts for a substantial part of their lower union density. Along with the tendency of younger workers to explore their options through labour turnover, this factor offers a much better explanation for the younger‐older worker union density gap than do assertions about a growth in individualism in Generations X and Y.