---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 11:54:18 -0400
From: Michael H. Belzer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From Michael Belzer:
This note is in response to Michael Etchison's reference to Michael
Belzer's summary that "truck drivers who earn the lowest wages and are
least likely to have union representation are most likely to absorb unpaid
time." This particular research doesn't directly address employee quality
variables. The survey on which it is based, however, revealed that
managers viewed applicants for jobs in the truckload industry (the ones
likely to get the bad jobs) to be inferior to those they received before
deregulation. Managers for less-than-truckload carriers viewed their
applicants to be better than ever. However, my research suggests it is
market economics in the industry that drives the segmentation of wages and
conditions into good jobs and bad jobs. In effect, managers of truckload
carriers don't have the luxury of paying good wages to good employees, as
suggested by Mr. Etchinson. The product market does not allow it.
Further, research by Barry Hirsch ("Trucking Deregulation and Labor
Earnings: Is the Union Premium a Compensating Differential?" _Journal of
Labor Economics_, Vol. 11, Nol. 2, April 1993) uses census data and finds
union drivers have superior characteristics to non union drivers. In
longitudinal analysis, he finds that those who enter the period as nonunion
drivers and leave the period as union drivers have superior human resource
characteristics (education, experience, etc.).
If there is any relationship between pay and the motivation and personal
characteristics suggested by Mr. Etchinson, it runs opposite to the one he
implies. The dual factors of unionization and industry segment determine
pay and conditions (which are linked), and driver quality is linked to both
(both positively). Within the legal structure today, it is virtually
impossible to unionize long- and medium-haul truckload carriers, even if
the employees desire representation. If he ran a trucking company, he
wouldn't have the luxury to pay according to the differentials he suggests.
My minimum wage estimates are averages, which means a lot of drivers may
earn even less. That's the competition.
Michael H. Belzer
School of Industrial and Labor Relations
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
voice: (607) 255-6185
fax: (607) 255-0107
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
