Despite an extensive literature examining the effects of unions on wages, little attention has been paid to the resultant aggregate employment consequences of this change in the relative cost of unionized labor. This article uses 1983 Current Population Survey data to estimate the effects of union strength on the probability of employment and labor force participation. Union strength, which reflects both union coverage and the union wage differential, is found to decrease employment and increase unemployment by a small but significant amount. These effects are concentrated primarily among females and young males, while little impact is found on prime-age males.

Despite the presence of anecdotal evidence linking regional economic growth and the presence of quality universities in such areas as the Silicon Valley in California and Route 128 in Boston, there have been few systematic studies of the relationship between universities and local economies. In this paper we examined the relationship between four measures of the quality or extent of activities of colleges and universities in an area and various measures of the local labor market activity, including employment, income and migration.