A strength of credit unions: employee productivity of credit unions versus banks in the U.S.?

Credit Unions have a number of advantages to offer customers relative to many banks and one of the reasons may be due to the way that their employees work. This paper will investigate whether employees at credit unions are more productive than bank employees. Theoretical arguments as to why this may be expected from a credit cooperative will be explored and then a look at the practice at the macro and micro levels will be explored. Data will be drawn from a sample from the Hurricane Katrina ravaged area gathered by the author through a questionnaire, interviews and available online sources. An analysis of national data on U.S. banks and credit unions from 1994-2006 complements this micro data set. The findings from the micro data set are confirmed in the national survey. Knowing the relative strengths of credit unions could help to develop new resources for credit union members and help keep a competitive advantage