This paper presents an analysis of data on male workers taken from an 1894 survey of the Iowa labor market. Consistent with the results of earlier research by Paul Douglas, the author finds evidence of a statistically significant and economically important union earnings premium. The analysis also shows that late nineteenth-century unionism, like unionism in the twentieth century, tended to reduce wage dispersion. On the other hand, the author finds no evidence that late nineteenth-century unions reduced the length of the workday for union members compared to nonunion workers.
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