Some unions take care to assure that their members are well trained and highly skilled at their jobs. It might seem at first that this would tend to benefit the firm more than the union but remember that the demand for labor shifts out if labor becomes more productive.

    By training members and otherwise assuring a more productive membership a union can cause the labor demand curve to shift out raising wages from W1 to W2 and employment from N1 to N2, indeed if the program is successful enough, as shown here, it could increase total hiring to above the competitive amount at N*.

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