Is pattern bargaining dead?

This paper challenges the common belief that pattern bargaining largely ended in the 1980s. Applying a measure of pattern bargaining- the dispersion of log wages-to wage data drawn from the same data set that Audrey Freedman used in her widely quoted studies of this subject, the author shows that the extent of pattern bargaining was actually greater in 1983 than in 1977. The evidence suggests that manager's perceptions of changes in the bargaining process, which are the basis for Freedman's claim that pattern bargaining has eroded, are inconsistent with actual changes in wage patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]