Labor Unions and Support for Redistribution in an Era of Inequality*

Abstract

ObjectivesThe United States has become increasingly unequal over the past several decades. Despite this, public opinion toward redistribution has remained largely unchanged. This is puzzling, given Americans' professed concern regarding, and knowledge of, rising inequality. I argue that the decline of labor unions, an organization that promotes anti‐inequality attitudes among its members, can help us to understand this.MethodI use panel data from the 50 U.S. states from 1978 to 2012 and ordinary least squares regression to examine how state‐level unionization levels condition the relationship between income inequality and support for redistributive spending.ResultsI find that in contexts where labor unions are stronger, higher levels of income inequality prompt greater support for welfare spending.ConclusionThese findings illustrate an additional mechanism through which labor unions can check income inequality and help us to understand why the American public has not turned in favor of redistribution during an era of rising economic inequality.