Contracting out in Japanese local government: Are unions making a difference?

Using 1997 data for Japanese cities, we examine the relationship between union density and outsourcing in local government. We also test the hypothesis that cities where employees are represented by the more radical of the two local civil service unions will have less outsourcing than cities where the less critically oriented union dominates. The results of the analysis support the central hypothesis that union density is negatively correlated with outsourcing, but they do not support the second hypothesis.