Frustrated demand for unionization: The case of the United States and Canada revisited

In this paper we demonstrate that there is a substantial union representation gap in the United States. We arrive at this conclusion by comparing Canadian and American worker responses to questions relating to desired union representation. We find that a majority of the gap in union density between Canada and the United States is a function of greater frustrated demand on the part of American workers. We then estimate potential union density rates for the United States and Canada and find that given current levels of union membership in both countries, if effective demand for unionization among nonunion workers were realized, then this would imply equivalently higher rates of unionization (37% and 36% in the United States and Canada, respectively). These results cast some doubt on the view that even minor reforms to labor legislation in the United States, to bring them in line with those in most Canadian jurisdictions, would do nothing to improve the rate of organizing success in the United States.