Trade union membership, tenure and the level of job insecurity

Recently there have been suggestions that job insecurity is on the increase. Two factors which may explain this are the reduced role of the trade unions and increasing flexibility in the labour market with an associated reduction in the proportion of workers in permanent fulltime employment. For the first time the relationship between trade union membership, tenure and the workers perception of job insecurity is examined using British data (drawn from the 1986/7 Social Change and Economic Life Initiative). Econometric evidence supports in part the view that while job insecurity encourages workers to join trade unions, overall trade unions tend to increase job security and also suggests that there is a strong relationship between tenure and job insecurity.