The impacts of unions on workers’ overtime: Evidence from China

Abstract While unions’ impacts on workers’ overtime have been primarily studied in Western contexts, research on China remains limited. This paper addresses this gap by examining how Chinese unions affect workers’ overtime and compensation, using data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey. It also explores heterogeneous protection effects for privileged and unprivileged workers. Probit regression, IV, and PSM methods are adopted to address endogeneity and self-selection biases. Results show that Chinese unions and their perceived efficacy significantly reduce workers’ overtime – particularly illegal (exceeding legal limits) and uncompensated overtime. The protective effect is stronger for unprivileged workers with short-term contracts or easily replaceable tasks. This study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness and heterogeneity of Chinese unions’ role in regulating overtime, rooted in their ‘party-state face’. It offers new insights into unions’ contribution to safeguarding workers’ welfare and labour rights in China.