The Health Benefits of Extended Union Membership Among Women: A Family Status Perspective

Abstract

Workers in labor unions have better access to high-quality health insurance plans, better pensions, and higher wages leading to increased lifetime earnings likely leading to better health. Additionally, much of the gendered hiring, promotion, and wage discrimination faced by women in the workplace is dependent on social characteristics (marital status and/or their status as a mother). While many of the benefits associated with union membership can potentially buffer the gendered workplace inequalities that lead to poorer health outcomes, unions have been largely ignored in health disparities literature. Using 28 waves of data (N = 3,409) from The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, this study creates a lifetime “union tenure” variable, tests its relationship to midlife physical and mental health, and tests ways in which motherhood and marital status may moderate this relationship. Findings suggest that long-term union membership is associated with better physical health among mothers but does not have a significant benefit for women without children. Further, in fully controlled models, this relationship is not dependent on marital status and both married and unmarried mothers see a union tenure health benefit. This study provides insight into how union membership may play a role in improving the midlife health of working mothers.