Using data from 68 countries on over eight million respondents over 40 years we show union membership peaks in midlife — usually around workers’ late 40s or early 50s. In doing so we extend Blanchflower's earlier study, incorporating a further 39 countries and another decade or so of data. We show the age peak in union membership is apparent across birth cohorts, and that the introduction of cohort dummies makes little difference to the age at which membership peaks. In Europe we show the peak coincides with the age point at which exit rates from union membership rise. We show that, among those aged 50 and over, retirement rates are higher among ex-members than among those who have never been union members, suggesting the increased prevalence of non-membership among workers later in life is due to union members retiring earlier, as one might expect given their pension entitlements. The age at which union membership peaks increases only very slightly over time in the United States but rises markedly in the United Kingdom. Since unions are democratic organizations, the implication is that unions in the United Kingdom may shift what they do to maximize the utility of an ageing membership.

中文翻译：

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中年工会会员高峰

我们使用来自 68 个国家的超过 800 万受访者 40 年的数据显示，工会成员在中年时期达到顶峰——通常在工人 40 多岁或 50 岁出头左右。为此，我们扩展了布兰奇弗劳尔早期的研究，将另外 39 个国家和另外十年左右的数据纳入其中。我们表明，工会成员的年龄高峰在出生队列中很明显，并且队列假人的引入对成员高峰的年龄几乎没有影响。在欧洲，我们发现高峰与工会会员退出率上升的年龄点相吻合。我们发现，在 50 岁及以上的人中，前会员的退休率高于从未成为工会会员的人，这表明晚年工人中非会员率的增加是由于工会会员提前退休，考虑到他们的养老金权利，人们可能会期望。在美国，工会成员达到顶峰的年龄随着时间的推移仅略微增加，但在英国则显着上升。由于工会是民主组织，这意味着英国的工会可能会改变他们所做的事情，以最大限度地利用老龄化成员的效用。